Rise of Ryujin
by Arcana37210
Summary: One small change, an impulsive action at the right time ...that was all it took. Now, both Konoha and Naruto have to deal with a long forgotten race's return. Kazuro i tenomaru jete ahui de na ...Ryujin. Naruto will be GOD-LIKE in this story, but not until near the end. Main pairing: NaruHina.
1. Prologue: A Dragon emerges

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Skyrim, or any other media this fan-fiction contains traces of.

A/N: This is the first chapter of my first story, "Rise of Ryujin". As I have nearly no experience in writing, critique and constructive criticism is not only appreciated, but desperately _needed_.  
Please just remember that this is my first attempt at fanfiction.  
And before anyone gets the idea: No, this is not a Naruto/Skyrim crossover. I only liked one small thing from Skyrim so much that I incorporated it in my story, hence the disclaimer.  
One last thing: This chapter, for several reasons, has become a true monster. I would highly suggest everyone who wants to read it to bring enough time with them.  
Well, on to the story. I hope that some of you will like it.

**Rise of Ryujin**

**Prologue:** **A Dragon emerges  
**

* * *

It was a cloudless, starlit night. Near a medium-sized mountain chain, which was covered in woods, there was a small village, illuminated in the bright moonlight.  
Outside a house at the edge of the village, a man with white, gravity-defying hair, whose lower face was covered with a black mask, was leaning against a tree. His one visible eye –his left was covered with a hitai-ate– was fixated on the road that led up the mountain.  
Normally, nights like these made Kakashi Hatake, Jounin of Konohagakure, unusual nostalgic and eager for a night stroll.  
This night, however, a nagging, tenacious feeling of restlessness kept him tense and rooted in place. He sighed and continued to watch the mountain-road.

_-/"Maybe I shouldn't have send him all by himself…"/_

Normally, he and his Genin-team would be busy training for the upcoming Chunin-exam-finals right now. But a shortage of manpower, due to the extra security measures because of the worrisome recent incidents, had forced the Sandaime to get Kakashi and his Genin-team back to duty for one specific mission – one week before the final stage.  
It was nothing special. About a month ago, someone from Kakutane -the village they were in right now- had found an unknown type of plant, and had taken it to Konohagakure for the botanic research-team to analyse it for possible medical use. Now, the analysis was complete, and the results had to be taken back to Kakutane. Again, this was nothing special – but _someone_ had to do it. Much to the annoyance of some members of his team …namely a certain loud-mouthed, blond and orange-wearing knucklehead, who had hoped the reason he had been called back to duty would have been a "super-cool important kickass-mission".  
It was said member of his team who had been chosen to carry the scroll which contained the results.  
However...

**-four hours prior-**

Kakashi looked back at his team as they approached the village. Sasuke was brooding, and walked down the road stoically, while Sakura leered at him every few seconds. Naruto walked right next to them and was sulking, both because of the mission they had been given and because of Sakura fawning over Sasuke. In other words: everything was as usual.  
Kakashi stopped right at the first house of the village. The travel between Konohagakure and Kakutane took only one day for each way, and the territory between, although sporadically rock-fall-dangerous, was completely free from bandits and dangerous wildlife. For the one night they had to stay, the mountain-village had provided them this vacant house. Kakashi opened the door and turned to his charges.

-"We aren't expected to deliver the scroll to the village elder before tomorrow. So make yourself at home!"

Naruto and Sakura went inside to pack out their things. Sasuke, however, stopped next to Kakashi.

-"Can we resume our training once we finished unpacking?"

Kakashi sighed.

-"Sasuke, you know as well as I do that our current surroundings aren't suited for that. We will continue as soon as we get back, I promise."

Sasuke snorted, clearly not happy with what he had heard, but went inside without complaining nevertheless. Kakashi followed suit, closing the door behind him.  
He then went upstairs to his own room – Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto occupied the three bedrooms downstairs. Just as he unsealed his Futon from a scroll, a scream from downstairs made him flinch.

-"The scroll is gone!"

_-/"What?!"/_

In the blink of an eye, he was on his feet and in Naruto's room. Said blonde had emptied the contents of his backpack on the floor and scrabbled through them. As he noticed Kakashi, he specified his former statement.

-"The scroll with the information about the plant! It's gone!"

For one second, it was silent. Then…

-"NARUTO YOU IDIOT! HOW THE HELL COULD YOU HAVE LOST THE VERY REASON WE ARE ON THIS MISSION?!"

Kakashi winced at the sheer volume of the voice of his female charge, Sakura. Both she and Sasuke stood behind him in the doorframe, and obviously had heard Naruto's every word. While he wasn't saying anything, by the way Sasuke was looking at Naruto, it was obvious that he was just as upset as Sakura.

-"I didn't! I mean …I know I packed it in my backpack and that nothing fell out of it during our journey."

Kakashi barely paid them attention as he thought carefully. About two and a half hours before they got to the village, they had taken a small break. During this break, Naruto had partially unpacked his backpack to get at something to eat. Among the things he had taken out, there had been the very scroll that was missing now. However, Kakashi was _sure_ he had seen him placing it back inside. That meant the scroll must've gotten lost between there and here, and that if someone would go search for the scroll, he would need five hours at a max – which would mean he would come back two hours after nightfall, at most.

-"Oh really?! If that's so, then where-"

Kakashi silenced Sakura with a gesture.

-"The scroll must have been lost between our last break and here. As a punishment for losing it, you will go and search for it, Naruto."

-"What?! But Kakashi-sensei, I'm _certain_ I…"

-"Listen."

He sighed.

-"Regardless whether or not it was your fault we lost the scroll, it was placed in _your_ care. So you have to take responsibility for it."

Naruto looked like he still wanted to protest, But Sasuke send him a cold glare and said:

-"Kakashi-sensei just gave you an order. Go look for that scroll now, _dope_!"

Sasuke always treated Naruto a bit like an underdog. However, right now there was dripping venom and a snarky tone in his voice.

-"Right! Listen to Sasuke-kun and don't get us in trouble just because you can't admit your mistakes!"

Sakura added.

Naruto's eyes flashed with surprise and hurt, before he hid it behind a fierce look.

-"Well …you know what?! Alright! It's not like that's a big deal for the future Hokage. Just you watch, I'll have found that scroll in no-time!"

With that, he stormed past them and out of the house.  
After a moment of consternation, the white-haired Jounin turned to look at his two remaining charges. Sasuke had nothing but irritation and exasperation written across his face, while Sakura looked at the entrance of the house with a mixture of annoyance, and a little bit of frustration.  
It made him cast down his eyes in disappointment on the inside.  
Kakashi Hatake was neither blind nor oblivious. He never would've lived to see the day he made Jounin if he would be. He'd known right from the start that his Genin-team would need a while and some tough joint experiences to truly learn proper teamwork.  
Sasuke seemingly had a subtle inferiority complex, which most likely stemmed from his inability to do anything to save his family during the Uchiha-massacre, and his desire to be strong enough to avenge them. It showed in his arrogance towards his peers. And non-Shinobi adults. And Shinobi who, in his eyes, were inferior to him. And …pretty much everyone else who couldn't charge him for disrespect towards his superiors if he did it. Naruto, too, had sort of an inferiority complex …for obvious reasons. However, unlike Sasuke, who really only wanted to prove his worth to _himself_, Naruto wanted to have the respect and acknowledgement of pretty much the whole village.  
Again unlike Sasuke, he didn't have any skills to impress his peers and make himself the centre of positive attention – partially because of his lack of proper guidance during his childhood and at the academy, as Kakashi could easily tell after a short time of being his Sensei. That was why he lightened his psychological strain by pulling pranks and bloating his own self-confidence to unreal levels, attempting to convince both his environment and himself that he was worthy of acknowledgement – even if it was mostly just negative attention.  
Lastly, Sakura had been paying nearly all of her attention to Sasuke, and barely felt anything but annoyance concerning Naruto. She'd seemed to be absolutely convinced that Sasuke was a perfect Prince Charming, and that Naruto was nothing but an idiot who was getting in her way towards that Prince.  
In short, the harmony between the members of the team had been nearly non-existent.  
Kakashi, who never had trained a Genin-team before them, had initially thought it best to let them work things out between themselves. And for a while, it had seemed like it was going to work as well.  
Sasuke had begun use a more casual attitude when being with his teammates, and Sakura had started to be equally loyal to both her teammates, even going as far as giving Naruto advice on the tree-climbing exercise when he asked, and not explaining it to Sasuke, since he hadn't asked. As for Naruto …he'd gotten over the bad blood between him and Sasuke, and the frustration of Sasuke being between him and his crush, Sakura (he seemed to ignore the fact that she didn't even waste a thought on him as a potential boyfriend completely), he had subsequently started an amicable rivalry with Sasuke, and was slightly less aggressive in his attempts at having a relationship with Sakura, concentrating on a companionate one more. Things had appeared to improve.  
But ever since the second round of the Chunin-exams, all the improvement seemed to have went down the drain.  
Sasuke was stoic and indifferent once again, cold at times, even. There seemed to be an aura of inexorability around him, daring anyone to get in his way. Kakashi suspected that it had something to do with what had happened in the `Forest of Death`. Sakura had only experienced this subtle change in Sasuke for one day – today, when they had started the mission. Kakashi couldn't tell whether she noticed the change or not, but she'd reverted to her previous way of acting and taken the same line as Sasuke in hopes of getting closer to him, abandoning Naruto in the process.  
Naruto had been the only one who had kept his slightly improved attitude. And that was why it was downright painful to see him being treated like that by his own comrades.  
Kakashi's face hardened (not that it would've been visible under his mask). The disharmony among his pupils painfully reminded him of _his_ old team …and Naruto of one certain member of that team. With the difference that back then, _he_ had been the only one who'd disturbed the teamwork. Only one inhibitor among three. And he could clearly remember what had come of it as a result.  
Perhaps it was high time for a good lecture.

-"Now, now."

He said, making his two remaining pupil turn to him.

-"You really shouldn't make this any worse for him than it already is."

Sakura looked at him incredulously, while Sasuke's eyebrows puckered.

-"It's not even proven that it was his fault the scroll fell out of his backpack. And it's not like he _wanted_ to lose the scroll, you know? Imagine how ashamed he must be feeling right now."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, while Sakura, after a short, disbelieving look she send Kakashi's way, seemed thoughtful at first, before her face got a look of uncertainty. She glanced at Sasuke.

-"No matter what the circumstances, a Shinobi needs to be reliable. The more ashamed he feels, the better. It'll keep him from doing something like that again."

At Sasuke's words, Sakura seemed to become steadier somewhat, and she turned to Kakashi, looking about ready to protest…

-"_Sakura._"

Said girl grew stiff at the unusual serious and hard tone in her Sensei's voice.

-"Do you remember what I told you all when you passed my test?"

He continued in the same, unyielding voice. Sakura swallowed and nodded, wondering what their Sensei meant by that.

-"Y-you told us that while the ones who don't abide by the rules are trash in any case, those who abandon their comrades are even worse than scum."

Kakashi nodded.

-"Exactly. Now …like I told you, all the Genin-to-be I tested beforehand caved in under the authority of a higher-ranking Shinobi, and rather abandoned their comrades than taking a personal risk. That's why I failed them."

He focused on the two Genin in front of him.

-"I passed you because I saw two people who risked their chance at becoming Genin for their comrade. I don't recall"

He fixated Sakura.

-"having passed a narrow-minded fan-girl who would turn on her comrade in a heartbeat just to toady to the object of her affection-"

Sakura paled and seemed to shrink. Kakashi's gaze wandered to Sasuke.

-"-or an inconsiderate ignorant who has no tolerance for mistakes his teammates are making, and refuses to admit his own mistakes."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, but otherwise, he showed no reaction.

Sakura remained silent for a few moments. Then, her gaze dropped and her shoulders slumped.

-"I …I see. Y-you're right, Sensei. I'm sorry. You're completely right."

As she turned to Sasuke, Kakashi could see that her eyes were slightly bleary.

"He's right, Sasuke. He …might have made a mistake, but we shouldn't have made this even more difficult for him than it already is. Let's apologize to him as soon as he gets back."

Her voice was strained, but it didn't quaver.

Sasuke's eyes had widened a little. He seemingly really hadn't expected Sakura to turn on him. He looked to Kakashi, and then Sakura again, before he snorted yet again.

-"Fine… But if something like that happens again, I won't apologize anymore."

**-Present-**

Kakashi really was worried about Sasuke. It was obvious that the reverse had begun with him. And with all due respect to the boy's past, Kakashi couldn't -and wouldn't- let him mess up the chemistry in the team. Regrettably, with the Chunin-exam-finals just around the corner, he needed to put all the remaining time in Sasuke's training to make sure he stood a chance against Gaara. But he resolved to have a very serious talk with him as soon as all this was over.

But that wasn't the main concern for now. Kakashi looked up the Mountain road again.

_-/"Still no sign of him…__/_

Naruto had left about four hours ago. And Kakashi grew more and more worried as the time passed. He had, in fact, already started to solve well-known Ninja-riddles in his mind by now, in an attempt to calm down.

_-/"There are no known dangers in this area …but still, I can't help but worry. He's taking very long… and he was in such a turmoil when he left…"/_

Kakashi shook his head. It was only a little more than four hours that Naruto had been gone, and he could've lost the scroll just a few minutes after the last break. In that case, there was still at least an hour left before worries were justified. But still…  
Reaching for his infamous orange book, Kakashi intended to ease his mind with reading…  
When all of a sudden, his whole body stiffened.  
Not in a bad way, however. It was as if his body was freezing in _awe_. As if something great was just happening and Kakashi would have the honour of witnessing it.

_-/"What the hell is happening?!"/_

Kakashi's eyes darted all over the landscape.

_-/"The last time I felt like this was …was …when Sensei became the Yondaime Hokage."/_

The strange sensation ended, and Kakashi's body slumped a little as the tension left his body. But he could still feel it in his bones, like the echo of a loud outcry, which was slowly fading away.  
He cast a glance at the mountain road, now on high alert.

_-/"Naruto …why do I get the feeling that you're somehow involved in this? …And that, whatever it is, is going to cause me a horrible headache?"/_

* * *

In a hidden base near Hi no Kuni, Orochimaru suddenly awoke with a start. He was _panting_ and _sweating_. Had he just …had a nightmare?! He hadn't dreamed _anything_ for **years**!

_-/"What the hell is wrong with me?!"/_

He thought as he stared at his shaking hand.

_-/"Everything is going according to my plans. Sasuke-kun is marked with my cursed seal. His lust for power will drive him to come to me sooner or later. In less than a week, Konohagakure will be destroyed by my hands, eliminating one of the greatest hindrances on my way to immortality. So …WHY THE HELL DO I FEEL AS IF THE DAY OF MY DEATH HAS JUST BEEN DECIDED?!"/ _

Orochimaru shook his head to clear his thoughts and left his chamber, intending to ease his mind by listening to the screams of agony of the men who were being tortured and experimented on under his command.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen froze in the middle of leaving his office. He didn't know why he was feeling this way, but the tingly tension in the atmosphere was all too familiar to the aged Shinobi.

_-/"Something important did just happen …something that will greatly affect history."/_

His hand still at the doorknob, The Sandaime Hokage turned his head to the window and looked at the sky.

-"I just hope it is something good."

* * *

Inside the hidden chamber at the top of his tower in Amegakure, Nagato –better known as Pain– suddenly stirred.  
Konan (who was busy checking a part of the mechanical walker Nagato used at that very moment) looked up to him.

-"Nagato? Is something wrong?"

-"…No. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Konan nodded, and was just about to resume her work, when…

-"It's just …I have a feeling …as if something in the rain has changed."

She stiffened. Her head whipped around to stare at him. That phrase …`something in the rain has changed` …to Nagato, it had the meaning of something beginning to change for the better. And the last time he had used it had been before Yahiko's death, shortly after Hanzou had made that treacherous offer to the Akatsuki.

_-/"Nagato …?"/_

She thought shocked and confused. Nagato barely noticed her actions as he stared out of a window (which was hidden by a Genjutsu to the outside-world) into the sky.

_-/"What is this feeling …?"/_

* * *

Besides the faint and rhythmic `beep-beep` of the pulse monitor, there was no sound in the Konoha-hospital-room. Nothing disturbed Hinata Hyuuga in her sleep. She lay in her bed, the blanket covering her neatly. Only her slight smile gave away the fact that she was dreaming.

_-Inside Hinata's dream-_

_Hinata was hiding behind a tree, watching Naruto train as she had done so often in real life. She _knew _she shouldn't stalk her long-time crush like that. What was she going to do if anyone – or even worse, _he _would catch her in the act? This was by no means proper behaviour. If word would get around, her already poor reputation in the Hyuuga-clan would worsen even further. And if Naruto were to know she was deliberately _spying _on him …she didn't even want to think about it!  
But…  
Naruto's face hardened in determination …the seemingly endless enthusiasm with which he was doing exercises and Katas again and again, even if he was seemingly only making small progress …the unwavering resolve in his eyes as he continued to train even when his body was reaching its limit …to Hinata, there was nothing more captivating, inspiring and …_beautiful_ in the world.  
Just watching him put her into a state of utter awe and admiration that was comparable to the joy an artist would feel if he would see the most _perfect _painting ever.  
She just couldn't help but doing it again.  
Apparently, she really was, in every sense, addicted to Naruto. The very thought made her blush even in her dream!  
Naruto hit the training post one last time with all the strength he had left. The part of Hinata that knew she was dreaming sighed sadly. She already had had this dream before, so she knew where this was going: Naruto would step back from the training post, sagging from exhaustion, and reach for a towel on the ground to wipe off his sweat. In doing so, he would turn in her direction …and the dream would end with her being unable to tell whether he had seen her or not (she was scared of his reaction, but a small part of her _wanted_ him to see her so she would finally be forced to tell him just how much he meant to her). True enough, Naruto stepped back from the training post…  
However, that was as far as the dream was akin to its predecessors.  
Instead of sagging, Naruto's body straightened with a sudden, newfound strength. His entire figure abruptly seemed to emit solemnity, dignity and _pride_ – not the cold, stern kind Hinata's clan displayed and that she had always secretly disliked, but a warm, fiery and wild kind. It wasn't respect-demanding and imperious, but awe-inspiring, open-hearted, confident and _acknowledging_.  
Naruto looked up to the sky, where the clouds parted to reveal an astonishing sight: somehow, both the sun and the stars seemed to cover the sky at the same time. They shone brighter and brighter, until the entire sky was blanketed by a sea of light. For a moment, Naruto looked calmly at the blinding bright sky  
_…_before, without any warning, all of the light shot down, and engulfed the boy Hinata loved in an explosion of light.  
Hinata had closed her eyes, covered them with their hands _and_ turned away when she had seen the light coming down – yet, she was still blinded.  
For about ten seconds, all she could see was colourful darkness. When her eyes finally began to function again, she anxiously looked for her crush  
_– _Only for said organs to widen in astonishment once again.  
The sky was pitch-black now. But it wasn't dark at all. Because Naruto was still standing in the very same spot – and _shining_!  
He radiated in a bright, yellow light with orange streaks here and there. The light seemed to come out of his body as if Naruto himself was a sun. On his back swirled two bigger masses of light like two additional body-parts. The sheer amount of light he emitted was enough to make the dark surroundings as clear as day._

-/"Naruto-kun …he looks like an angel."/

_Hinata thought in awe. As if he'd heard her, Naruto turned around, looking straight at her. Eyes, blazing in a bright blue light, riveted on her face.  
Hinata froze in awe, shock …and fear._

-/"Naruto-kun noticed me! K-Know he knows I was s-stalking him! Oh no …I h-have to e-explain! Please Naruto-kun, don't th-think bad of m-me!"/

_But before she could open her mouth to explain herself, all fears, shame and doubts –or all coherent thoughts, for that matter– were washed away as something happened that she had never dared to hope even in her wildest dreams.  
Naruto _smiled_ at her. Not his usual large grin, but one of his incredible rare, beaming and beautiful true smiles. His eyes were filled with understanding, acceptance and caring …for _her_.  
Hinata forgot how to move. She forgot how to breathe. She forgot how to _think_.  
Slowly, Naruto raised an arm to reach out to her, his palm facing the sky and his fingers stretched in her direction.  
Like in a trance, Hinata stepped out of her hiding place behind the tree and walked towards Naruto, step by step.  
Strangely, even though the closer she got to Naruto, the brighter the light he emitted became, it didn't hurt her eyes at all. When she was only a meter away from him, Naruto closed the distance between them in one last step, raised his other arm – and pulled her in a tight, yet gentle embrace.  
All she could see was yellow-orange light. All she could feel was his warm body pressed against hers. All she could hear was her own, thundering heartbeat. It was so warm …it was so full of life …so pleasant …so comforting …so caring …strong …blissful.  
It was _Naruto_._

-In the real world-

Hinata shifted in her sleep, changing into a comfortable foetus position. An utterly beatific smile was spread on her face.

-"Naruto-kun…"

* * *

Far away, inside a room inside a temple in a secluded village in Yuki no Kuni, a strange ceremony was taking place.  
About fifteen people in brown robes were standing around a colourless orb of the size of a human head, that was resting on a small pedestal in the middle of the room.  
One upper-middle-aged man with black, silver-streaked hair which was just so long that it touched his shoulder, stood closer to the orb than the others. His eyes were full of faith and devotion.  
The other men's' eyes travelled between him and the orb. As if following an unheard command, the man got down on one knee, and the others followed suit.  
He then began reciting:

-"The light, the light born of a Hero's heart."

And the others followed with a chorus:

-"Will come back to him with heaven's reward."

-"With the gift, the secret of the Rikudou's arts."

-"An ancient power to rival the stars."

-"It's the beginning of the end of the ancient tale."

-"Destiny will become unveiled."

-"For the Darkness still lurks and the legend yet grows."

-"For that we know the Dragon-god comes"

Then, they all began to hum in a strange melody that was full of desperate hope and longing.

After a while, they all began chanting:

-"_Dovahjun Dovahjun, naal ok zin los vahriin, wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal, ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahjun, fah hin kogaan mu draal._"

After the last tone had faded into silence, the leader stood up and turned to his followers.

-"I once again thank you for your belief. There's nothing to do in the temple, so you're free to do as you please for the evening."

Everyone else stood up and turned to leave – but they stopped when they noticed that one of them stood still.  
The leader looked at him.

-"Is something wrong, Kigi?"

The man was silent for a moment.

-"`Thank you for your belief` …that's what you're always saying, Shinnen-sama. But …isn't all that belief for nothing if we believe in an illusion?"

Shocked murmurs rose in the room as the Ryu-souni were facing yet another crisis.

-"What do you mean?"

Shinnen asked, even though he knew exactly what Kigi meant. The man gritted his teeth and half-shouted the next words.

-"Since the day I have come to this temple all we have been doing was keeping it intact, dutifully reciting our prayers and fighting to keep a dying order alive! Most of us can't start a family because no woman wants to have anything to do with the `strange obsessed cult-freaks`! Ten years ago, when Dotou Kazahana killed Sousetsu-sama, our Daimyo and former head-monk and overtook our country, you said that we couldn't join the rebels because if we were to die, no one would be there to welcome the Dragon-god when he finally emerges – resulting in about half of us leaving the temple to join them anyway! When I was a starving orphan, you took me in, and I'm grateful for that. But …you have to understand that I'm not willing to sacrifice my entire life for some half-forgotten fairy-tale!"

At this, everyone in the room inhaled sharply. No one had ever dared to call their religion a fairy-tale right in front of the head-monk.

-"The Dragon-god is _not_ a fairy-tale."

Shinnen spoke with absolute conviction.

-"Thousands of years ago, he roamed the world, caring for the humans and trying to bring constant peace. When he had to return to his own realm, he left our predecessors this orb-"

He pointed at the colourless ball.

-"-that would give us a sign when a new Dragon-god would arise. Since then, we Ryu-souni have kept the memory of the Dragon-god alive, so he-"

Kigi interrupted him.

-"Prove it! Prove that this is not just an ordinary –albeit virtually indestructible– ball that our founder created to gather followers! Prove that this old legend is actually true!"

Shinnen saw how the doubt spread among his brothers; saw how their resolve and belief was wavering. His own belief in the Dragon-god was unshakable, but he couldn't help but worry at the developments among their order. They –these fifteen men– were all what was left of the once numerous and proud Ryu-souni. If it continued like this…  
His thoughts and the whispers of the other monks were silenced as a bright, blue light suddenly flashed up behind him.  
Shinnen spun around so quickly he almost lost his balance. The orb –which had been completely bare of all extraordinary features just a second before – was now radiating in a bright, sapphire-blue, glinting light that lit up the entire room.  
All the other monks had drawn back as the orb had started to shine, and some had even fallen on the ground. Now they were all staring at the orb –and at the back of their leader– in astonishment.

-"What …what the …?!"

Kigi whispered in absolute bewilderment. Loud murmur began to fill the room.

-"What is this?!"

-"Did Shinnen-sama do something?"

-"What is the meaning of this?"

Then, a voice arose over the others, silencing them.

-"Shinnen-sama! Does …does that mean …?!"

-"Yes, Shousa."

Shinnen said, his voice slightly quavering. He slowly turned around to his brothers, tears in his eyes and running down his cheeks.

-"Our millennium-lasting prayers …have finally been answered!"

* * *

On a training ground near Konoha, Hayate Gekko froze as he felt the strange sensation. He had just finished training, wanting to sharpen his skills for whatever Orochimaru had in store for Konohagakure.  
He was really worried because of the recent incidents. And this unexplainable chill didn't exactly help easing his mind.

_-/"Things couldn't possibly have gotten any worse – could they?"/_

Not taking any chances, Hayate performed the "Crescent-moon-dance" once more as a top-off to his sword-training, before moving on to the Nin-Jutsu part.  
Unbeknownst to him, these few extra-seconds would save his life.

**-Twenty minutes later-**

_-/"How the hell did this happen?!"/_

Hayate thought. He was currently standing in front of a Suna-nin, his sword buried in his shoulder-armour. After he had returned from his training, he had located Kabuto, the traitor, and the Suna-nin in an alley. However, he hadn't had the chance to hear anything of their talk since they had just been about to separate – and had noticed him immediately.  
Kabuto had taken his leave as the Suna-nin had confronted the Tokubetsu Jounin. Hayate took great pride in being able to tell the strength of an opponent just by looking at his combat-face. He had noticed right away that this Shinobi was more powerful than him, that his only chance to win was to take him by surprise.  
However, he had wasted his chance. The final attack of his Crescent-moon-dance hadn't hit the head as intended, but only the shoulder. And now he was stuck – and knew he couldn't possibly get out of this.

_-/"Well …I guess it wasn't such a bad life. I have done many good deeds, earned much recognition and had an amazing girlfriend. But still …this is not how I imagined my life ending."/_

Being convinced he was about to die, it was no wonder that when something bright yellow-shining descended from the sky, he thought it was an angel who had come to take his soul away…  
That is, until it landed behind the Suna-nin, grabbed him by the vacant shoulder – and literally _threw him across the village_.  
Said man was so stunned at his unexpected detour that the thought of moving –or screaming– never even crossed his mind until he came crashing down _hard_ in the Konoha forest.  
Hayate, likewise, needed several seconds to wrap his mind around the fact that he was still alive and well. When he finally snapped out of it and tried to take a closer look at his saviour, the radiant being raised itself into the air once again. In a matter of seconds, it was nothing more than a point on the horizon, impossible to tell apart from the stars.  
Hayate blinked. He blinked again. When he was finally able to get his act together, he quickly headed for the Hokage tower, banning the strange encounter from his thoughts for now.

**-Thirty minutes later, Kakutane-**

Kakashi was fidgeting nervously by now. Naruto was _still_ not there. By pure logic, it was still possible that he simply had to go all the way back to the resting place – but ever since he had felt that strange sensation, his worry had doubled every second.

_-/"Alright, that's it. I'll just go and look for him."/_

Just as he stood up from the place beneath the tree he had been sitting under, intending to do just that, he saw a figure coming down the mountain road.  
Was it Naruto? _Yes_!  
Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief as he walked up to meet Naruto. Said boy was coming down the road at a middle-quick pace, not exactly running, but not walking either. His eyes had a far-away look, as if he was deep in thought. Were it not for the fact that he slightly adjusted his path to meet Kakashi, he would've thought he hadn't even noticed him.  
Kakashi frowned. Normally, Naruto would come running at him and yell something like `The future Hokage has done it again! `. Did something happen to him while he was gone?  
When the two of them met, Naruto quickly put on a goofy grin and presented the missing scroll to Kakashi.

-"Here is it! Sorry for the wait, but I kind of had to walk back all the way to get it."

He giggled embarrassed and scratched the back of his head with one hand. Kakashi eyed him suspiciously. He acted like the same old Naruto …but that was just it! He _acted_ like the same old Naruto.  
Kakashi was positive this wasn't an impostor (he looked too much like the real thing for that). So what was going on?

-"Is something wrong, Naruto?"

-"No, no, everything's fine …it's just …well …I'm still really embarrassed I lost the scroll."

Kakashi didn't buy it for a second. First of all, Naruto's face had slightly twitched when Kakashi had asked him if something had happened. And second, Naruto nearly never talked about his true feelings (which wasn't necessary since he was embarrassingly easy to read). But considering the fact that Naruto seemed to be fine and that the scroll was safe, he decided it could wait until the end of the mission.

-"Well…"

He took the scroll and put on his famous eye-smile.

-"Take it as a lession to pay attention not only to your surroundings, but to yourself as well!"

Naruto giggled nervously.

-"Yeah, I'll do that. Can we go to sleep now? I'm beat."

The easy acceptance of the lecture was absolutely unusual for Naruto, which hardened Kakashi's suspicion that something was off. But he nodded and led the way back to their house nonetheless.  
As they entered the hallway, two doors suddenly opened, and out came Sasuke and Sakura.  
Kakashi stopped. Naruto nearly ran into him, and, after regaining his bearings, peered from behind him in slight confusion.  
Sakura looked like a picture of misery, while Sasuke had one of those `Do I _have_ to?`-looks on his face. Kakashi gave both of them a meaningful look, before stepping aside, clearing the way for an eye-contact between them.

-"Hello, Naruto."

-"Hn."

-"Hey, guys."

Naruto replied absent-mindedly. Sakura's bottom lip trembled, and she looked so guilty that Kakashi felt a little bad for having been so blunt with her. But he knew that she'd needed to hear it.  
She took a deep breath, and looked him in the eye.

-"Listen …I'm very sorry for the way I acted before you left. That was really un-comradely of me. So …sorry."

She looked inquisitively at Sasuke, which was amplified by a prompting glare from Kakashi. He sighed and just barely _didn't_ talk through his teeth.

-"I apologize for my behaviour from before."

He gave both Sakura and Kakashi a look that said `There! Happy now?`.  
Naruto blinked confusedly, before giving a dismissive wave of the hand and saying

-"Oh, don't sweat it, I almost forgot about that already. You know me, nothing can depress a future Hokage for long! He he …Well, I'm gonna go sleep now. ´Night."

With that, he went past them and into his room. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, while Sasuke rolled his eyes.  
Kakashi stared at the door of Naruto's room.

_-/"…Just what's going on? He was very upset about what happened when he left, I'm certain of that. What could've happened that he's so indifferent about it now?"/_

Kakashi contemplated going into Naruto's room and confronting him right now, but ultimately dismissed that idea. Whatever it was, it was better discussed back home in Konoha.  
With that in mind, he addressed Sasuke and Sakura.

-"Well, Naruto made a good point. It was a long day, and we all can use some rest."

And with that, they bid each other good night and went to sleep.  
No one except Naruto would've guessed the things that were to come in the following days.

* * *

-"So let me summarize."

The Sandaime said.

-"You saw the Suna-nin Baki with Kabuto. But you know nothing about their connection since they noticed you right away and Baki moved to silence you. He nearly succeeded, but then-"

At this point, he was frowning.

-"-something that radiated in a bright yellow light came down from the sky …and saved you by throwing the enemy all the way across the village, only to disappear right away again?"

The sickly looking Shinobi in front of him nodded.

-"Yes. And no, I'm neither drunk nor did I take anything _strange_ – as far as I know, at least."

-"And you cannot remember what exactly it looked like?"

-"Well…"

Hayate frowned in concentration.

-"It had wings and there came light out of its body. But …I think the rest of its body looked more like a human – it stood on two legs and all. Its main body was much smaller than a human's, though. That's all I know. I'm sorry …it happened too fast and sudden, and I only saw it from the backside."

-"So you are saying that its form resembled an angel?"

-"Yes …and no. I don't think its wings had feathers. They were …skinny, like a bat's …but at the same time, it didn't look like a bat's ones at all. I know how crazy that sounds, but like I said before, I'm certain of what I saw."

The old Hokage took a careful look at Hayate.

-"Please do not take this personally …but I think we should still take a sample of your blood – just to be sure."

Hayate nodded in understanding. The Sandaime instructed an ANBU to bring Hayate to the hospital for a check-up, and the two of them left.  
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and put one hand on his head (It was still slightly wet because he had just taken a shower when the ANBU had come to inform him of the incident, and he hadn't had the time to dry it properly). He sighed. First his fallen disciple had showed up and threatened his former home, and now not only did it seem like Suna had ties to Otogakure, but one of his Shinobi had seemingly only survived because of some strange being they knew absolutely _nothing_ about. Orochimaru and conspiracies of supposed "allies" were worrisome and sad things, but at least it was something the Sandaime had an idea of how it worked. That strange being –taken it really existed– was something completely unknown – and unknown factors usually meant danger since you didn't know how to react to them.  
He looked up as the office door opened and another ANBU with a cat-mask stepped in. She kneeled down before she began to speak.

-"We examined the area where, according to Hayate, the enemy landed. We found a spot where the ground was slightly crushed and covered with blood, as well as many broken tree-branches above it. However, a body wasn't found. Someone must have been there before us."

The Sandaime nodded. Inside, the last hope of Hayate merely being fooled somehow died. That meant there really **was** a strange creature with enough power to throw a grown-up man nine kilometres far out there.

-"Thank you. You may call it a day now, Neko."

As the ANBU left, Hiruzen allowed himself to sigh in exasperation.

_-/"I am getting too old for this stuff…"/_

The old warrior thought tiredly.

**-Thirty minutes later-**

As Hayate left the hospital, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the ANBU who had been guiding him had been replaced by another one. One with a very familiar mask.  
They silently joined each other and walked through the streets for a while before they reached a small, inconspicuous house. As Hayate opened the door, he turned his head to look at the ANBU.

-"Is your shift over now?"

He asked.

-"Yes."

She replied from underneath the cat-mask. Hayate opened the door and stepped aside to let her in as a response. As he closed the door behind them, the ANBU reached up to take off the mask – and revealed the face of Hayate's girlfriend, Yugao Uzuki. She turned to him.

-"Are you really alright?"

-"I'm fine, don't worry about me."

-"I'm glad."

She walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders.

-"I was really worried when I saw no light in the house on my beat."

-"I'm sorry."

He said and leaned down to kiss his girlfriend.

**-The next day, evening-**

-"…and then, we returned here. We're a bit late because a rock-fall had blocked the road we had originally come from over the night. That's all."

Kakashi finished his report. The Sandaime nodded, but at the same time, eyed team seven carefully. Sakura looked a bit thoughtful, and only looked at Sasuke longingly every thirty seconds (which was a bit unusual, but still normal), while he ignored it stoically – as usual. But Naruto and Kakashi were acting strange. Naruto had _not_ loudly announced their presence when they had arrived, he had_ not_ grinned like a madman even once in the entire time, and most disturbingly: he had_ not_ fidgeted like the bundle of pent-up energy that he was at all. Instead, he had remained silent ever since they arrived, and was staring into nothingness, deep in thought.

Furthermore, he had caught Kakashi casting him nervous glances a couple of times. Did something happen that he didn't want to mention in front of his Genin?

-"I see. Good work, everyone. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, you may spend your time from now on until the finals as you wish. Kakashi, I would like to have a private word with you."

The Genin (except Naruto) were looking at their Sensei curiously, but exited the chamber immediately nevertheless. Before the Hokage could say anything, Kakashi spoke up.

-"One of the ANBU told me about one of our men clashing with a Suna-nin last night. Is that true?"

_-/"Well …I guess I cannot blame them for telling a former co-member."/_

The Sandaime thought.

-"It is."

He confirmed before he gave Kakashi a detailed summary of the incident.

-"What does Suna say to this?"

-"That they are shocked and had no idea that one of their men had ties to Kabuto. Of course, they could tell me anything they want since we do not have any solid proof Baki was not acting by himself. They gave me all the information about Baki, but naturally, that could be doctored too."

He said with a sad and grim smile. Kakashi nodded with a hard eye.

-"Anything new about that …creature?"

-"Regrettably, no. No one has seen it ever since, and none of the guards or patrols saw it. I cannot blame them. When you are on guard-duty, you usually do not look at the sky, after all. So …enough of that matter – what is wrong with Naruto?"

Kakashi sighed, suddenly looking really worried.

-"When he came back from retrieving the scroll yesterday, he was like this. Deep in thought, silent and introverted – though he tried to act normal all the time. That hasn't changed ever since.  
Seeing as it didn't seem to be anything urgent and we had a mission to do, I let it slip. But …I'm almost sure something happened while he was away – though I seriously don't know why he wouldn't tell me."

The Sandaime nodded slowly. Those were disturbing news.

-"I assume you will talk to him now?"

-"I will. And I'd like to do it as soon as possible, so if I may…"

-"Of course. You are dismissed."

Kakashi thanked Hiruzen and quickly left the chamber.

_-/"Just what is going on recently? It seems as if all bad things that can possibly happen actually _do _happen."/_

The Sandaime thought worriedly before facing the arch enemy of all authorities –the paperwork– again.  
Ten minutes later, the door to his office suddenly flew open and a very concerned looking Kakashi barged in. Hiruzen looked up quickly in alarm.

-"Kakashi?! What happened?"

-"It's official now. Something happened to Naruto while he was away!"

Kakashi almost ran to the desk and handed the Sandaime a piece of paper.

-"I found this letter in Naruto's apartment. He himself was nowhere to be found."

Hiruzen looked down at the letter.

Dear Kakashi-sensei

I guess you have already figured out by now that I wasn't truthful about the time I was gone – if you haven't known from the very beginning.  
I'm sorry, but I can't explain what happened in a letter. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be gone for some time. Don't search for me, you won't find me.  
I promise I'll be back in time to attend to the Chunin-exam-finals and answer all questions there.

Naruto

The Hokage read the letter twice. There was no mistaking it, it was Naruto's handwriting. He dropped the letter and drew a piece of paper out of a drawer, which he handed to the Jounin in front of him.

-"Go get two ANBU of your choosing and set out to find Naruto."

Kakashi nodded and wordlessly left the office. Hiruzen stared after him in concern.

_-/"Naruto …what happened to you?"/_

* * *

Kakashi, and two figures in ANBU-attire arrived at Naruto's apartment.  
He turned to his two companions.

-"As I said before, one of our Genin, Naruto Uzumaki, has gone missing. We've been given the mission to retrieve him. Any questions?"

None of them answered, but he was almost sure he saw the one with the mantis-mask tense at the mention of Naruto (the general hatred against Naruto didn't stop at the ANBU ranks – though most of them hid it better than regular people). Kakashi ignored him and bit his thumb before slamming it on the ground. With a `pop` and a small cloud of smoke, a small dog named Pakkun appeared.

-"Hm ...? Oh, Kakashi! What do you want from me this late in the evening?"

-"Pakkun, I need you to find Naruto for me. He's gone missing."

-"Oh! ...Gotcha."

Pakkun replied and sniffed the air few times before he started to lead them in the direction of the village gates. They went through them and were almost at the forest – when he suddenly stopped.  
He sniffed confused, ran in a circle two or three times, and finally looked at Kakashi with a look of absolute bewilderment on his face.

-"The trail …the trail ends here."

Kakashi was in shock.

-"What?! What do you mean by that?!"

-"You heard me, and I mean exactly what I said. The trail ends here …and there's no trace of his scent anywhere around, either."

Kakashi was stunned. If this would have happened at a river, he would have understood it. But on even ground? How the hell was that possible?! There _was_ a Jutsu to suppress your own scent and trail, but there was no way in hell that Naruto would even _know_ about that Jutsu, much less being capable of _executing_ it. Even most Jounin couldn't do it.

-"Kakashi …look."

One of his companions said, incredulous bewilderment in his voice. Kakashi tensed. It was never good when one of the ANBU –the most battle-hardened Shinobi in the village– showed his emotions on duty. He turned in the direction the ANBU was staring …only for his one visible eye to widen so much it almost fell out of his socket, and his jaw falling so deep it almost ripped the mask off his face.  
There, at the border of the forest, were two squirrels playing with each other. That alone wasn't an unusual sight – if it weren't for the fact that they were on the ground, not even _pretending_ to pay any attention to their surroundings (which was highly unusual and practically suicide for wild animals) and that there was a fox playing with a small piece of moss not even one meter away, not even _looking_ in the direction of the easy and delicious prey. Furthermore, he could see a feral pig with its piglets in the distance, practically at the foot of the village wall. To top it all off, one of its piglets was playing with a _badger_, and the mother watched calmly while relaxing on the ground.  
Foxes _never_ let a prey as easy as this escape. Feral pigs _hated_ being near humans!  
Wild hog-mothers normally attacked any living creature who dared to come that close to their piglets with the rage of _Kyuubi_!  
What in the world was going on?!

* * *

A woman with a small, yellow handbag waited anxiously in the hospital hallway. What took the doctor so long?! He said he just had to read the blood-test-results over.  
She blinked back tears when she thought about the first blood test that had been made of her son.  
Two years ago, her three-years-old son's health had suddenly rapidly worsened. After a visit at the hospital, and a blood test, the doctors had told her that her son was infected with Akasuji, a lethal virus that had no cure. Thankfully, it wasn't contagious by touch or air, so her son could still stay at home with her and her husband.  
The doctors could do nothing but slow down the process as much as they could. They said that if it progressed like this, her son would die at the age of nine.  
Only four more years to live.  
One glistening tear escaped her eyes. She quickly wiped it away. In that moment, the door finally opened to reveal the doctor. Getting up, she froze when she saw the incredulous look on his face.

-"Is something wrong?"

Fear gripped her heart.

-"Has the progress quickened?"

The doctor shook his head wordlessly and stared down at the blood sample she had brought to the hospital this morning.

-"Mrs Toriumi …did you give your son anything out of the ordinary to eat or an experimental medicine of some sort?"

-"What?! No, of course not! Why are you asking me this?"

The doctor looked down at the phial again.

-"The …the sample…"

The doctor stuttered.

-"We …we couldn't find any traces of Akasuji in it."

The handbag the woman had been carrying hit the floor.

* * *

Kankuro stared at the clock on the wall.

_-/"Baki-sensei is late."/_

He thought. He looked at his sister, Temari, to see that she, too, had a worried look in her eyes. He even took a glance at Gaara, who leaned against the wall of the apartment they had been given upon their arrival in Konohagakure, although he knew Gaara didn't care what was going on as long as it didn't involve fights and blood.  
Baki, their Sensei, had told them they would meet in the late afternoon today – and now it was already getting dark outside. He had _never_ before missed a meeting, so naturally Kankuro was very nervous.  
His head turned around as a knock was heard on the door. As he opened it, he came face to face with a Suna-nin – but not with Baki.

-"Good evening. Don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing here?"

-"Lord Kazekage sends me to inform you that Baki will not come. And to go over the invasion plan with you in his stead."

Kankuro nodded and opened the door to let the man in. He went inside, took a seat at the table and took a map out of a pocket in his vest to visualize their role in the invasion. Before Kankuro could voice the question, Temari beat him to the punch.

-"Why are you here instead of Baki-sensei?"

The man eyed them carefully, as if unsure how to tell them. Finally, he answered.

-"Baki was severely wounded in a clash with a Konoha-nin and an unknown enemy. No lasting damage, but it's so worse he won't be able to participate in the invasion. Kazekage-sama send him home yesterday, in the dark of the night, so the Konoha-nin will not be able to find him and discover the entire plan."

Everyone in the room was shocked – safe for Gaara. Kankuro was the first one to break the silence.

-"Do we know who did it?"

-"Regrettably, no. Baki was able to speak a little, but he doesn't know it himself. It happened too fast and sudden. He said that one moment, he stood in front of a Konoha-nin, about to cut him down – and the next, someone –or _something_– grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him all the way across the village into the forest. Since he has a heavy concussion, it's a miracle he knew even that much."

Temari spoke up again.

-"How worse exactly are his wounds, anyway?"

-"As I said before, he has a heavy concussion. In addition, several ribs are broken and fractured, one arm is broken and the other is dislocated and badly twisted, and he has several cuts and bad bruises on his body. All of the wounds are a result of the fall out of the big height. Fortunately, the branches he broke through on his way to the ground slowed him down. Otherwise, he would be dead."

-"Enough."

The silent whisper made everyone in the room freeze in fear.

-"All this talk is pointless. Let's move on to the invasion plan. You're starting to irritate mother."

Gaara continued, leaving no room for arguments. And so the man started to explain the plan to them. However, Kankuro couldn't help but think more and more negative about what was about to come.  
He had never really liked this plan from the very beginning. Although to most people, he appeared arrogant and aggressive, he didn't enjoy the act of killing others unnecessarily (although he found it satisfying to beat and scare the shit out of someone who challenged him in some way). He had never really understood why they should attack the village that was supposed to be their ally. Then again, he also didn't understand why their father had willingly risked (and sacrificed) their mothers' life to seal Shukaku into Gaara, and tried everything in his power to turn him into a soulless weapon.  
Sure, he understood the term `for the good of the village`, but did that really justify _everything_?!  
He gave himself a mental shake. There was no use in thinking about things he had no control over.

**-four hours later, midnight, Konoha hospital-**

Even though she was considered a disgrace to the Hyuuga-clan, Hinata was still the heiress by birth right (although the elders couldn't wait to finally officially strip her off that title), and bearer of the Byakugan. While they didn't care whether or not she survived her missions (If she died on a mission, it would only prove that she was a complete defect and even her Byakugan was so weak it was no loss), it was something different when she was defenceless, like now. That's why a guard had been assigned to keep watch over her during her stay. However, said `guard` was none other than Nan Hyuuga, a main family member who rejected Hinata just as much as the elders did (the reason he had to do this instead of a branch family member was that he had accidently damaged a prized painting in the Hyuuga estate, and was punished this way). That's why he found it to be more than enough a fulfilment of his guard duty to simply sit under her window outside the building, with the main entrance left hand, and to scan her room every few minutes with his Byakugan. He preferred it that way since he had a penchant for smoking, and even his status as Hyuuga couldn't give him permission to smoke inside a hospital.  
If he had taken his guard duties more seriously, the unseen event would have had much more trouble happening.  
The window to Hinata's room was open, and a streak of moonlight fell on her sleeping face. Besides her quiet breathing and the noise of the pulse monitor, it was absolutely silent.  
She would occasionally twitch in her sleep, and from time to time, a slight smile graced her lips. Nan had just deactivated his Byakugan again (refusing to waste the Hyuuga's prized bloodline on the failure more than necessary) when it happened.  
One heartbeat, the room was completely empty besides the bed and the patient …and the next, a shadowy figure stood next to the bed, looking down at the heiress.  
It stood with the back to the window, so the face of the person was in the dark. But it wasn't a big shadow: In fact, he was as small as the fragile looking girl – or maybe even smaller.  
He (or she) watched Hinata sleeping for a while, as if thinking about something. Then, he slowly and soundlessly stepped closer to the bed and started to raise his hands when…

-"Naruto-kun…"

The figure froze. For about a minute, it didn't move an inch.

-"Naruto-kun…"

The girl murmured again, changing into a foetus position, facing the figure. A content sigh passed Hinata's lips.  
For a long moment, the figure simply stared down at her, unmoving, as if made of stone. Then he bend over her, his hands raised above her, palms facing the sky.  
His hands began to glow in a yellow light. When he turned them around and held them close to the sleeping girl, almost touching her, the light seemed to drop from his hands like a living gas and engulfed Hinata's body completely. It swirled around her, embracing her entire form, before it seemed to be drawn into her body like a sponge sucking in water. Hinata's only visible reaction was a quiet hum, as if she had just eaten something delicious. The figure straightened again and watched her for another minute.  
Then, in the blink of an eye, it had vanished without a trace. Not even ten seconds later, Nan Hyuuga activated his bloodline again, to find nothing out of the ordinary.

* * *

A few moments later, the figure reappeared inside another room in the hospital. This was a one-bed-room too – but the occupant of this room was in worse shape than the other.  
It couldn't be seen under the blanket, but Rock Lee's left lower arm and leg were badly squashed. The doctors said that the damage inflicted to him would force him to quit being a Shinobi – even though they had unexpectedly managed to put all bone splinters back in place again. The figure wasted no time this time, as he stepped close to Lee and brought his hands up and down in one fluid motion, covering Lee's body in the same yellow light from earlier. This time, however, more light appeared on the shadow's hands and kept flowing onto and into Lee. Furthermore, if you looked really closely, you could see that the blanket slightly shifted where the left lower arm and leg would be. The procedure lasted about eight seconds, before the last remains of the light sunk into Lee. The figure visibly slumped as it stepped back from the bed, and a quiet panting could be heard. The act had clearly exhausted him. A few seconds later, the panting made way for a sad sigh, and the shadow slowly shook his head. He looked down at Lee, looking as if he was sorry for something.  
This time, the figure didn't disappear in a heartbeat, but in a blur and a breath.

* * *

About one block down the road, Gaara crouched on the roof of a building, looking towards the hospital.  
Just a few hours ago, he had been determined to end what he had started at the Chunin preliminaries tonight …but then, their visitor had come and told them about what happened to Baki.  
Even though he had acted as if he didn't care about what had happened, the information that there was an enemy in this village that was able to best Baki, one of the strongest Suna-nin …interested him.  
The curiosity had cleared his head somewhat. If he were to kill Lee now and get caught in the act, he might get trouble with the council and his `father` again. And he really didn't like the assassination attempts on his life (even though he could feed the assassins' blood to mother and proof his existence). So here he was at the moment, contemplating whether he should kill Lee or not.  
He was, in fact, so deep in his musings that he almost failed to notice the sudden movement at the hospital building.  
Something came through one of the hospital's windows and quickly climbed up the wall before making its way to the centre of the hospital's roof.  
Gaara narrowed his eyes at the unusual sight, and tried to identify the figure from the distance.  
Then his eyes widened as the silhouette began to glow faintly and two wing-like objects emerged from its back, before it shot up into the sky with a mighty flap, to disappear into the starlit darkness.  
The whole process didn't last longer than five seconds.  
Gaara stared into the sky, mesmerized by what he had just seen. He didn't know what this thing was, but judging by the presence he had felt, it had to be a proud and strong creature. Furthermore, he had felt the Bijuu inside him stir at the sight of it.  
He grinned maniacally. Oh yes, feeding that creature's blood to mother would be a great proof of his existence.  
If he had paid more attention to Shukaku than to his bloodlust at that time, he would have felt it freeze in shock at the thought of killing that creature. But he didn't.

_-/"It came to the hospital once …maybe if I wait here; I can intercept it when it comes back."/ _

He crouched down again, focusing entirely on the hospital and its surroundings.  
And so, without anyone realizing it, the hospital security staff increased by one.

**-Five days later-**

Hiruzen rubbed his temples in a futile attempt to ease the headache that had become like a chronically illness during the last five days.  
He had been shocked and alarmed after the incident with the Suna-nin and the still unknown creature. He had been confused at seeing Naruto acting so strange after his return. He had been really worried when he had suddenly disappeared. He had almost fallen off of his chair when the reports about the wild animals' strange behaviour had started to come in. As he had witnessed first-hand, the wild animals in the immediate vicinity of Konohagakure had literally lost all their fear of humans, going as far as attempting to enter the village itself, and they obviously didn't fear their natural enemies around the village anymore.  
The next day, he had heard that the doctors had checked up on Hinata Hyuuga that morning, to find that all the internal damage she had incurred in her fight against Neji Hyuuga had fully healed overnight, and Rock Lee had made a likewise miraculous recovery (although he still couldn't walk without a crutch and in pain, seemingly because of an unknown injury to his spine).  
Furthermore, a supposedly incurable sick boy had gotten completely healthy overnight, and countless other sick people had recovered at exactly the same time. He had thought that things couldn't possibly get any crazier.  
As if the gods wanted to make fun of him, they _had_ gotten crazier.  
The Sandaime stared down at his desk. Twenty forms were spread on it. Twenty cases. Twenty more or less completely unconnected people. Yet only _one_ occurrence that had happened to them all.  
The first one was a female, and it had happened the day after Naruto had disappeared. The young woman had attempted to cut off the branch of a tree to make a Kendo-sword, only to flinch back as a sharp, stinging pain shot through her body. When she had looked down at the arm that had held the saw, she had screamed in fright.  
Her entire body was covered in a faint, strange blue mark that, according to a witness, had appeared on her skin the moment she had applied the saw. In that very moment, it had burned like blue fire. During her questioning, she had mentioned that she had been unbelievable reluctant to cut the tree for some reason, and had only attempted to do it because wood for Kendo-swords was very expensive and usually hard to get.  
The next one was a man, a husband, and it happened the following evening. When his wife had called the ambulance, she had been in tears and said that her husband had `suddenly` collapsed screaming. When the ambulance had come, they found the same mark on his skin – but much more pronounced than the last one. One of the doctors had noticed the woman tensing when he had asked her what exactly he had been doing before he collapsed. At first, she had kept insisting that he hadn't been doing anything special …but after some coaxing, she had burst out in tears and confessed that he had been about to hit her when it happened.  
After a little chat with Ibiki, the man had confessed that he had abused his wife both psychological and physical for some years now. He also mentioned that, for some reason, he had been unusually hesitant about hitting her that evening – though it hardly mattered in the case itself, It was a striking similarity to the former case. The man was imprisoned, and his former wife was with her relatives now, who did their best to help her overcome her bad experiences.  
The next incident had delivered not one, but eight people: A long wanted ring of burglars. They had been about to take the valuables of a noble home, as a mark completely identical to the previous ones had made its painful appearance, and one of them had triggered the alarm system as he cringed from the pain. They, too, reported that they had felt extraordinary reluctant to actually go through with their plan, to such an extent that they had nearly cancelled the whole action.  
The next one was the fifteen year-old son of a poultry keeper. He had attempted to take a fertilized egg from a hen, and had collapsed releasing an ear-shattering scream with the very same mark appearing on him. The pain he described was much worse than the pain the other victims had suffered, and his mark was not only the most pronounced up to that point, it _glowed_ faintly, but clearly visible. He too stated that the guilt he was feeling for what he had been about to do was much worse than usual, but he had pressed on since he'd feared his father would get angry if he wouldn't take all eggs.  
Next one: The only butcher in the whole village who was keeping and butchering his own pigs (He lived at the outskirts of the village, almost inside the forest). Collapsed screaming uncontrollably with the mark appearing on him as he attempted to butcher one of it. His mark was just as pronounced as the boy's was. He too reported very unusual great hesitation before he had attempted to do it.  
Five more cases were two men and three women. They were distributed over the first four days, and all of them were quite similar. The victims had taken a walk outside the village walls, and had encountered a potentially dangerous animal – like a bear or a wolf. They, like all wild animals, had been completely unbashful around Konohagakure ever since the day Naruto disappeared.  
They had shown no signs of aggression, but even so, the people had gotten so scared –either they feared for their own well-being, or they had kids with them– that they'd thrown a stone at the animals to get them to leave. The moment the stones connected, their throwers had cringed in pain as the mark had made its appearance. As for the animals, they had first grunted or wailed, more out of surprise than out of pain, according to the victims. When they had seen the victims, they had growled in both fright and anger, before running away.  
The last three had gotten the mark just a few hours ago: A group of three pickpockets who had gotten the mark the moment they tried to steal from random people on the streets. From what they told, the pain they had felt upon the marks' appearance was the least intensive of them all, and their marks were so faint they were barely visible. They said the guilt they had felt was almost unbearable, and that the only reason they had even considered doing it was because they all had no work to do, and that they had been starving for five days before they had resolved themselves to commit the crime.  
On top of the twenty forms was a photo of the butcher's body with the glowing mark. The blue glint covered his entire body in a seemingly random pattern. The meaning of that pattern was obscure – as long as you couldn't see the victim's chest. There, in a circle created by the mark, was a simple Kanji: "Aku".  
And if you looked at the pattern with that in mind, you could see that it was actually countless "Aku"-signs, which blended into each other.

_-/"Well …considering the circumstances, the meaning of the mark is very clear. The culprit has to be one of these people who think that all live is holy, but have a very ruthless behaviour towards people who do not share the same belief …but who can it be? Who could have known about what all these people were about to do? Who could have cast a Jutsu as complicated as this without any of the ANBU noticing it? And get away from the crime scene unnoticed, on top of that?!"/ _

The old Hokage gripped his head with one hand. It was as if the entire world had gone crazy.

-"It's been tough on you recently, wasn't it?"

Hiruzen startled at the voice, and his head whipped to the window to see his former student, Jiraiya the Toad-sennin, crouching in the frame.

-"Jiraiya?!"

Said man grinned.

-"The one and only beloved wise-toad-Jiraiya, yes!"

He said in an excited voice while jumping in front of the desk and doing a small dance. That made the Sandaime smile as he remembered the old days, when his three little students had trained together and the world had seemed to be completely at peace.

-"I did not know you were back in the village. It truly is good to see you again."

-"Well, same here. I'm sorry I didn't inform you of my arrival, but you know that I don't like getting attention …unless it's feminine, of course!"

Both of them laughed a little at that. But soon enough, Jiraiya's face got serious.

-"However, when I heard about the disappearance of a certain orange-wearing Genin, I decided it was time to pay you a visit."

At that, Hiruzen's face instantly got sombre, and his eyebrows raised a little.

-"So you finally made the boy's acquaintance."

Jiraiya looked a little guilty at these words. The day before he left the village after Naruto's birth, he and his Sensei had had one of their rare arguments, because Jiraiya said he had to maintain a spy network, and therefore couldn't take care of Naruto like Hiruzen had asked of him. And deep down, he had always known that his Sensei had been right when he had said that `Minato and Kushina would roll in their graves if they could see how irresponsible you are with your godson`.

-"Yeah …we met one day after the end of the second stage of the Chunin-exams, to be exact. I let him sign the toad-summoning-contract, and he has just recently learned how to summon Gamabunta – albeit with the Kyuubi's help."

The Sandaime's eyes widened a little before the corners of his mouth twitched.

-"I see …so that was the reason he was just being released from the hospital when Kakashi came to get him for the mission."

-"Yeah …when Gamabunta climbed up the cliff, I wanted to run away for a second – you know he and me had always sort of an umm …_complicated_ relationship. But just before I could make a run for it, I remembered that Naruto's chakra had to be completely exhausted from the stress. So I stayed, endured Gamabunta's roasting, and performed this chakra-exhaustion-alleviation-Jutsu I learned by watching Tsunade. I think he would have stayed unconscious for a couple of days if I hadn't."

The old Hokage sighed.

-"Maybe that would have been better …then I could not have send him on that god-damn mission to Kakutane, and whatever happened to him that made him leave would not have happened."

Beholding Jiraiya's confused face, he explained the basics of the mysterious Kakutane-incident to him, before he reached into one of his drawers and handed him the letter Naruto wrote. Jiraiya scanned it with a frown on his face.

-"He went missing five days ago. And just like he wrote, all attempts to find him have failed. It is as if he has just disappeared."

Jiraiya's eyebrow's rose.

-"Five days ago, huh …what an _incredible_ big coincidence…"

-"Ah …so you know-"

-"About the clash with the Suna-nin and the appearance of that strange creature and the mark-incidents? Yeah, I know about that."

The efficiency of Jiraiya's spy-network never ceased to amaze him. While the miraculously recovery of the patients at the hospital and the wild animals' strange behaviour were public known, he had chosen to keep the mark-incidents, Naruto's disappearance and the unknown creature a secret – at least for now. He had done everything he could to keep it from leaking out.  
The fact that Jiraiya heard about it –albeit five days later – was _remarkable_.  
Following an impulse, he took the photo of the mark and held it out for Jiraiya to look at.

-"Have you ever seen this mark somewhere?"

Jiraiya bend over the desk to get a closer look at the photo. After about ten seconds, he shook his head.

-"No, I'm sorry. I've never seen anything like this before. Has the research team found out anything?"

Hiruzen sighed.

-"That is where it gets _really_ messed up. No one –not even our best sealing experts– can even _sense_ the mark, much less _interacting_ with it and analysing it. And when we analyse pieces of the coloured skin, we find no traces of anything that could have caused the discolouration. If it were not for the fact that we can clearly see it, I would say it does not exist at all."

That left Jiraiya speechless for a second. Before he could respond, the Sandaime continued.

-"Like you indicated, I too believe that all of this –the animals, the mark-incidents, the recovery-miracle and even the unknown creature– are somehow connected to Naruto and whatever happened to him on that mission. I just cannot fathom _how_!"

He let some of his bottled up frustration slip out in that last word. Both remained silent and unmoving for about a minute. Then Jiraiya rounded the desk and placed a reassuring hand on his Sensei's shoulder. It felt really weird, considering that his Sensei had done that for him very often when he was younger.

-"Well …Naruto wrote he will answer all questions as soon as he gets back, didn't he? So we will be smarter tomorrow evening."

The old Hokage sighed in exasperation.

-"We can only hope, Jiraiya. We can only hope."

**-Day of the Chunin-exam-finals-**

Konohagakure was abuzz with a very intense and solemn atmosphere. The Chunin-exam-finals were not the biggest event of the year in Konoha, but it was an event that countless nobles, Shinobi and businessmen from all nations (especially from the ones where the participants came from) attended, and one of the few events that could be watched all around the world via big, public screens. Everyone who was able to attend looked forward to it and was in a hurry and eager to get to the arena – especially the participants.  
One certain boy wasn't.  
Naruto Uzumaki took his time, going step by step through the crowd. It was hard for him not to show his amazement in the face of all this …everything around him was so familiar and yet so new.  
Familiar because he had seen and felt all of it before, and new because he had never seen or felt it like _this_. He drank in all of these overwhelming impressions …sensations…  
The feeling: his feet touching and rolling over the ground through his sandals, feeling the slightest fissures and even corns of sand underneath them. The air moving around him as he walked, tiny fragments of dust and pollen rubbing against his face and clothes, the rubbing of his clothes against his skin…  
The vision: he could see slight discolorations caused by the damp of the freshly cooked food on the sign of a ramen stall three hundred meters away that would seem immaculate to normal people even if they would press their foreheads against it. All colours were so intensive and contrasted from each other so strongly that the phrase `grey reality` couldn't possibly be farther from the truth, and he could see scars on the exposed skin and faces of people which their bearers probably didn't even know they existed…  
The hearing: he could hear a mouse running through a cellar one-hundred fifty meters to his right behind even though the street noise seemed to be as loud as thunder to him. He could tell that the guy in the black Yukata in the restaurant two hundred meters down the street left-hand was soliloquizing about what to get his wife for their wedding anniversary – in a quiet mumble that no one else in the restaurant could hear…  
The scent: he could not only tell the exact locations of all the restaurants in Konohagakure, but also what they served and what they didn't. He knew if someone cooked –and if, what meal– in the flats in a seven-kilometre radius. He could tell how much time had passed since the persons walking past him had had their last bath and what shampoo and what bath additive they had used. And he could tell that in the seven-kilometre-radius around him, there were six couples having sex in six different rooms – and one room with three people and a real-life threesome (his nose wrinkled as he got aware of that last fact)…  
The taste: did you know that saliva has actually a taste? Well, it has, and Naruto had yet to get used to that constant sensation in his mouth. In addition, even though he had nothing actually in his mouth, the spoors in the air enabled him to taste enough to feel like he was cheating on every restaurant owner and grocer in the vicinity…  
He let out a quiet sigh. It was all still so new to him …and his heart was still in turmoil because of all what happened, all he had learned, all he had realized  
...What he had become.  
Unfortunately, his sharpened senses hadn't _only_ upsides. Because of them, he was a thousand-times more aware of the hatred-filled glares and fearful glances the villagers send his way. And the stings he felt in his heart were much more _painful_, too. As he looked towards the Chunin-exam-stadium, he felt very edgy and even slightly fearful of what was about to come. Sure, what he was about to reveal there was pretty cool and very beneficial for not just him but everyone else in the village if you thought about it. But …most of the villagers hated his guts even now, when they were thinking that he was merely a boy carrying the most powerful and feared Bijuu in existence. How would they look at him as soon as they knew he wasn't even completely _human_ anymore?

_-/"Man …what is with me today? Getting all depressed and uneasy is not like me at all!"/_

**-/"For once I agree with you, kit."/**

Naruto didn't show anything on the outside, but he jumped a little on the inside.

_-/"Ah! …Good to know you're still alive in there!"/_

The mighty Kitsune gave an annoyed mental snort at that.

_-/"But seriously, it's good to hear your voice again. You've been awfully quiet ever since your talk with the old sage."/_

**-/"What do you expect? Old man is the only one who I would allow to call himself part of my family. How would you feel** **if Iruka would tell you that Mizuki was merely the product of the world around him, and that you would have to try to get along with him from now on?!"/ **

Even the Kyuubi himself knew that this comparison was exaggerating (Naruto had never been openly hostile towards him, after all). But he wasn't going to admit that.

_-/"Hey! Come on, I was never _that _bad to you, was I?"/_

Both of them were `quiet` for a few seconds.

_-/"But …I can sort of understand how you feel, I guess."/_

**-/"You …can?"/**

The Kyuubi asked in a slightly surprised tone.

_-/"Of course. I mean …You all were treated and looked at as nothing more than mere immensely powerful animals by nearly every human except the old sage. And when you were starting to bear resentment against the humans because of that and the several attempts to harness your power, they started to call you purely evil creatures instead of thinking about why you were like that. Finally, after that bastard Madara and the masked man used you like a tool, the humans blamed you for it and sealed you away – even though nothing of what happened was your fault!  
Considering all that, I think it's absolutely understandable that you bear a grudge against all humans – although that is not really good and what I –or the old sage– would want for you to do."/_

To say that the mighty Kitsune was shocked was quite fitting – although it was careful Naruto didn't notice.

**-/"Why are you so …accepting? I'm the very reason you're treated the way you are. Don't you hate me?"/**

The Kyuubi was more than confused. By all he had seen how the human mind worked like, Naruto should hate him just as much as the villagers did …if not more.  
But instead, he said that he could understand him …and wasn't lying.

_-/"To be quite honest, I sort of did, for a time. It was much easier to bear through the pain when I blamed someone for it. But …lately, especially with everything what happened the last days, I've begun to realize that if I would hate you, I would be just as petty as those narrow-minded villagers. Besides …the loneliness and the frustration at all the damn crap I experienced while I was a kid give me sort of an idea of what it must've been like for you …and god knows, I don't want _anyone _to have to go through that.  
If I wouldn't have had Jiisan and Iruka-sensei later, at least, I might have very well turned out quite similar to you …or Gaara.  
I …can't honestly say it doesn't bother me that you're living inside of me or that I like you …yet …but …I don't hate you …Kurama."/_

_**-/"Damn it brat, don't be so …**_**nice**_** to me! I have enough turmoil in my head as it is! Why do both you and the old man have to make me feel so …guilty?!"/ **_

**-/"Just mind your own business already, kit! I don't think you'll be able to beat that Neji-brat by getting all sentimental!"/**

_-/"Hey, I was trying to be nice, why the hell do you get mad at me?! I don't mind you keep being at my throat, but fix the way you respond, at least! …but …maybe you're right."/_

He turned his attention back to the real world and looked towards the stadium, low-spirited. He was still not fully calmed down …That he had let the matter drop that easily was just another evidence for that.

_-/"There's still a bit of time until the finals start …I have to relax somehow."/_

Sighing, he changed directions and headed towards a place that would (hopefully) calm his troubled mind with the memories that came with it.

* * *

_-/"Huh? That scent…"/_

Due to the overwhelming amount of information that attacked his senses and the chaos in his head, he only noticed it when he was just about two kilometres away from training ground three. Curiously, he picked up the pace.

_-/"What's she doing there?"/_

* * *

He silently exited the forest and entered the training ground. There, in front of the three logs, she was.  
For once, she wasn't wearing her usual bulky jacket, but a grey sweatshirt with short sleeves that went just below her elbows (it still hung a bit loosely around her, though), and combat bandages on her lower arms. She was simply standing there and stared at the logs, as if she was reminiscing something.  
He too, stayed where he was and watched her for about half a minute …that shy, quiet girl he used to never think much about …until recently…  
Finally, he decided to make his presence known.

-"Hi, Hinata."

She jumped and made an `eep`-sound, before spinning around and moving behind one of the logs at the same time.

-"N-N-Naruto-kun?!"

-"Yeah …hey."

Hinata fought desperately to keep the blush from surfacing and her body from fidgeting …and, like usual, failed miserably.  
Naruto had been clueless about the Hyuuga heiress' feelings towards him in the past, despite the obvious signs. He never thought that anyone would actually feel that way about him, and his nature as Konoha's number one knucklehead didn't exactly help. But with his new improved senses, it was too obvious even for _him_ to overlook.  
The way her voice quivered nervously, but her face showed no signs of discomfort …the blush that graced her face, but the lack of any sign of strain or anger …her heart and pulse rate speeding up without the produce of stress hormones …the age-related still weak and few hormones her body was releasing and the undeveloped, faint pheromones she unconsciously send out to him…  
She was nervous, yet not anxious. She was flustered, but not in a bad way. She was excited without any actual physical cause. She was _attracted_ to him.  
Every fibre of her being –except the speech centre of her brain and her mouth– was screaming `I love you!`.  
It was a good thing he had already learned of her feelings for him – otherwise, he would be gaping like a fish right now.

-"N-Naruto-kun w-why … why a-re you h-here? I-I mean …not that I m-mind, but …shouldn't you be h-heading …to the s-stadium by now?"

-"Well, yeah …but I still have time, so I wanted to check out this place before I go. Since this is the place where I became a Genin."

-"O-Oh! …I s-see."

-"And what are you doing here?"

Hinata blushed a little more at that.

-"I-I'm …waiting for Kiba-kun. W-We want to m-meet up h-here …before we g-go to the f-finals together."

-"Really? Why here, of all places?"

_-/"Because Kiba-kun let me decide the meeting place, and I wanted to come here before the finals, since it makes me remember all the times I've watched you. And also because I was hoping you would be here, since I haven't been able to find you ever since I was released from the hospital."/_

-"N-No …no s-specific r-reason …we j-just h-happened to ch-choose it."

-"Ah …Okay."

Both were silent for a minute.

-"A-Ano …I d-don't mean to p-pry …b-but …w-where have you b-been …over the l-last few d-days? I …h-haven't s-seen you around."

And she had really _looked_ for him! Immediately after her release from the hospital and the lecture (meaning humiliation) from her father for losing to a branch family member, she had set out to find him, hoping to find solace in watching him. But no matter how hard she had looked, she hadn't been able to find him. She must've searched the entire village more than ten times over the last five days without finding a trace of her crush! Even the places where he normally went to when he wanted to be undisturbed (yes, she had followed him to those places, too) and Ichiraku had been a no-go.

-"Well …a lot of …stuff has happened lately, and because of that, I was …training outside the village for a while."

-"Oh. I th-think I …u-understand."

_-/"No, you don't. No one does right now."/_

He thought, but didn't voice it aloud.

-"Umm …how are your injuries? Is it okay for you to walk around already?"

He asked even though he already knew the answer to that.

-"Y-Yes. Just a f-few days ago, the doctors s-said my i-injuries were f-fully healed, and I was r-released from the hospital."

-"Ah …that's good."

After a short silence, Hinata spoke up again.

-"A-Ano, you should g-go now …otherwise you'll be late for your f-fight."

-"Yeah…"

Out of Impulse, he decided to ask her a question.

-"That Neji …he's your cousin, right?"

-"Y-Yeah…"

_-/"You would never get the idea from just looking …despite the eyes."/_

He thought to himself.

-"He's …a very powerful Shinobi."

It was a statement, not a question.

-"A-Ano …y-yes."

Silence.

-"B-But …I think you m-might be able …to d-defeat him."

-"You …really think that?"

He was honestly surprised.

-"Y-Yes …b-because-"

-"I'm …well …surprised. I mean …most people tend to see me as nothing but a failure."

-"That's not true!"

Hinata blushed and looked to the ground for a second, embarrassed of her loud outburst.

-"N-N-Naruto-kun …even if you fail s-sometimes …in m-my eyes …you're a proud failure."

Naruto's eyes widened.

-"B-Because …no matter h-how often you f-fail …you always g-get back up …and k-keep g-going and t-trying. I think …that's w-what t-true strength is …t-to me …you're an i-incredible strong person, N-Naruto-kun."

She was poking her fingers together now. It took all of her willpower, but she pressed on.

-"W-Whenever I look at you …I get …this intense feeling in m-my chest …and …you m-m-make me w-want to b-become a stronger p-person. W-When …you w-were …ch-cheering me on in the Chunin-p-prelims …I felt …like I had …ch-changed a l-little. I d-don't think o-others s-see me different but …I th-think I am …a-and …I …like m-myself a l-little m-more n-now. It …It is a-all …thanks to y-you Naruto-kun. I …w-wanted t-to thank you f-for …a w-while n-now …for b-believing i-in me b-back then…"

She trailed off, her face a previously unknown shade of crimson red. She had _almost_ confessed her feelings for Naruto. It was definitely the closest call so far.  
In the back of Naruto's head, he wondered just how exactly he had managed to miss the signs until now.  
But the rediscovered confidence, enthusiasm and gratitude he felt for and because of what she had just said were much more dominant.  
His eyes dropped to his feet as he took in all she had just said.

_-/"A proud failure, huh…?"/_

He decided right then and there that he really liked Hinata.  
As he raised his eyes to meet hers (she was eyeing him uncertainly and with a bit of worry in her eyes by now) he thought carefully.  
He wanted to know more about this girl who believed so much in him even despite what everyone else believed. And he _knew_ he would love to become a closer friend to her.  
About her apparent wish to become something more to him …well…  
He had been convinced that he loved Sakura, but after the recent changes in his life, he had thought about many things. What exactly did he love about her? Was it love? Or did he simply like her beauty?  
He looked at Hinata and thought about her. She was kind and sweet. She was a strong Kunoichi. She loved him. She had just pointed out and admired one of the most important traits and principles of not only who he was, but also of what he had become. And if he looked at her that way, she was really pretty – though in a much more subtle, mystic and delicate way than other girls (he didn't like it at all, but a tiny, primal part of his brain was scanning her body underneath her clothes, and tried to calculate and measure how she would develop in the following years and look like after puberty, as well as her future ability to conceive and bear children – and was _very_ pleased with what it predicted).  
He really liked her. Somehow …he got a funny, warm feeling in his chest when he looked at her. Was it possible for him to return her feelings one day?  
But …he had also thought he loved Sakura – and wasn't even sure how he felt about her now. The only thing he really knew right now –one of the things he had realized during the last five days– was that he didn't want to hook up with a girl only to realise he loved someone else later. He couldn't stand it when people were sad …especially not when he was the cause. If he would get a girlfriend one day, he wanted to be absolutely sure that he wouldn't break her heart sometime later.

_-/"I'm not that sure about my feelings right now …well …I'm certain I want to get to know her better, so let's just start with that."/_

He finally smiled at her.

-"Thank you too, Hinata."

Her eyes went wide.

-"When I came here, I felt so insecure …so unlike me. But…"

He made a fist and punched in the air.

-"Now I feel all ready to charge in again!"

Hinata blushed and couldn't stop the quiet giggle that escaped her lips.

-"It w-was nothing …you're w-welcome, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto's face got a bit more serious as he thought about what he was going to say now, wanting to be sensitive for once.

-"Umm …Hinata…"

He began. She looked at him curiously. What did he want to say?  
His face contorted a little in an apologetic expression as he looked at his feet.

-"To tell you the truth, I didn't think that much of you in the past. You were always so quiet and I hardly ever got to really _see_ you, you know? So …I thought you were kind of …weird. So different from all the other girls I knew."

He lifted his head to face her. He really looked guilty now.

-"That wasn't fair of me. I mean, I judged you before I even really knew you. I'm …sorry for being such a jerk."

-"A …Ano, It's a-alright …"

Hinata replied even though she felt sad knowing that the person she loved most in the world had thought of her as weird.

-"So …to make up for that …how about if I treat you to a meal as soon as we get the chance? That way, we can also talk, and get to know each other better."

Her entire being froze. Her body …her heart …her soul …everything.  
When she didn't answer, Naruto became a little nervous.

-"Would that …be alright with you?"

Somehow, she managed to nod. That got him to grin widely.

-"Wednesday, six o'clock, after the finals?"

She nodded.

-"Is ramen o.k.?"

He said, grinning. Somehow, he liked the way she had turned into a frozen statuette when he had offered to treat her.  
Hinata wanted to yell `I would even eat crabs and shrimps as long as it's with _you_!` but could only nod.

-"Alright, it's settled, then! Wednesday, six o'clock, at Ichiraku!"

Hinata nodded, and wondered in the very small part of her brain that still worked how someone could feel like he was on fire and be frozen solid at the same time.

-"Sweet! O.k., I gotta go, before they start searching for me! "

_-/"…again."/_

He silently added. Turning around, he gave her one last grin.

-"Just so there are no misunderstandings – I don't think you're weird anymore. In fact …I think I like people like you the most. So you better be there and watch me polish the walls with Neji's back!"

Then he took off, bouncing, feeling happy and confident, and completely like his normal self again.  
Hinata watched him leave. Even after he was gone, she kept staring …and staring at the spot where she had seen him disappear, unable to wrap her mind around the fact that Naruto had just described her as the kind of people he liked the most, and that she had a date with him – albeit not romantically, as she would want it.  
After a few minutes, Kiba and his puppy dog Akamaru arrived at the training ground.

-"Hey, Hinata! Sorry I'm late – my sister's dog food ran out, and I – uh …Hinata? …Hinata?!"

She didn't move at all, nor did she give any sign she knew he was there. He held his hand in front of her face and moved it up and down.  
No reaction.

_-/"It's like she's just a statue …but according to Akamaru, that's definitely Hinata!"/_

After a few more attempts to coax a reaction out of her, he got fed up, and simply threw her over his shoulder and carried her towards the stadium.  
Even then, she didn't move an inch.

* * *

Hiruzen was tired. Yes, that was the appropriate word.  
After he had come back from retirement to replace the Yondaime, many people had expressed their worries that he wouldn't be able to do his duty properly because of his age.  
He had proven them all wrong, and led Konohagakure well in the last twelve years. And if you would've asked him just a week ago if he shouldn't appoint the Godaime Hokage soon, he would've laughed and said that he intended to do this job for another five years, at least.  
But …these last, stressful days had made him realize something. Everything around him was unbelievable crazy, yes …but it wasn't the first, and by far not the only time things had been crazy around him.  
When he was still young, that had made him confused and _mad_. When he was older and in his prime, so to speak, it had made him worried and _on edge_.  
Now, the craziness around him made him not only incredible worried and mad on his people's behalf, but …he was also _frustrated_ …and _tired_. His will of fire and his determination to protect his precious people were as strong as ever …but lately, when he worked late into the night and stewed over ways to find out what exactly Orochimaru, his once beloved fallen student planned, how exactly Otogakure was connected to Sunagakure, and how he was supposed to protect his beloved village …his limbs felt so _heavy_. Sometimes, he wished he could just go into bed and sleep for a long, long time.  
He was old. There was no denying it anymore. He had done everything he could for as long as he could …but there was a limit to how long a human body could function properly…and how much it could take. And the Sandaime had now reached that border.  
His eyes were tired of seeing people die because of missions he had assigned them to, and other people throwing the world into chaos in their foolishness …his muscles felt numb from all the times he had dragged his old body to fights and negotiations for the sake of the village. His time was over. It had been denied for the longest time, but it was the simple truth.  
He had realised and accepted that the moment his former student Jiraiya had had to reassure him, like the old Hokage had done it for him so many times in the past.

_-/"This is my last crisis."/_

He thought calmly.

_-/"If I am still alive by the time everything has calmed down …it is time to hand over the mantle to someone who can conduce the village with everything he or she has …because I am not able to serve them to my fullest anymore."/_

For now, he concentrated on looking as strong as he could and on the arena around him, which was filled to the brim with Konohagakure-citizens and –shinobi, as well as guests from all nations.  
Just as he began to wonder where the Kazekage was, he entered the Kage-box, flanked by his two bodyguards.

-"Ah! Welcome, Kazekage-dono!"

The man gave a nod as a greeting and took his seat next to the Hokage. The Sandaime noticed that the other Kage was very tense.

-"You must be tired from the journey."

He asked, testing the waters.

-"Not at all! I'm _fine_."

He replied. The last word carried a tiny bit of his tension out into the atmosphere.  
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, but refrained from asking any further and looked back into the arena. Whatever secrets Suna had, he had a feeling that it wouldn't be long until he knew. The Kazekage's tension was proof that _something_ was going to happen soon.  
Meanwhile, the disguised Orochimaru silently cursed under his napkin. What was he thinking, acting that nervous in this last, deciding part of his plan?! Just what was wrong with him lately?! He was _Orochimaru_, a man the entire world feared, for heaven's sake!  
It all had to do with that dream. That dream from a week ago. He just knew it. After he had calmed down that night, he had tried to remember just what he had dreamed that had put him into a state like that. But …for the sake of immortality, he couldn't remember! Using all memory restoration Jutsu he knew (which was quite a significant number) he was able to restore a part of the dream…

-Orochimaru's dream-

Orochimaru was standing in the midst of a huge landscape. The ground was waste and even, and stretched out so far that the mountains and woods in the distance seemed to be as small as toys.  
He had the Kusanagi in his right hand and stood in a ready battle stance, which surprised him since he couldn't see any danger around him.  
But before he could think of that matter any further, the ear-shattering impact of _something_ on the ground near him shook the earth so violently that Orochimaru bounced off and over the ground like a rubber ball countless times, before he came to rest on his back about a minute later.  
Palpating his thorax, he noticed that multiple ribs were broken, and his left leg was twisted in a way it obviously wasn't meant to be.  
Looking around, he saw the cause of the earthquake: Two giant strangely bend …pillars, made of a strange substance that looked like light itself –like a mass of yellow-orange light with a blue gleam dancing on its surface– towered on his left and right. They were so thick that they each covered nearly half the horizon, despite the fact that they both were very far away from him. Looking up, he saw that the pillars supported a ...structure of the strange substance that was so _incomprehensible_ **huge **that Orochimaru couldn't even begin to make out what it was from this close up. It filled the entire sky.  
Suddenly, black-red lightning shot down from the sky, to form an infinitely high cage around Orochimaru's body. Before he could react, the ground cracked where the lightning touched it, and the entire clod of earth with Orochimaru was floating upwards at an amazing pace, the black-red lightning never ceasing to form a destructive curtain at the border of the clod.  
But even though it was moving upwards almost as fast as a Shunshin-no-Jutsu, it was only very slowly that more of the structure came into view. It was after eighteen seconds that the two pillars finally united in a single piece in front of Orochimaru. It was so _huge_ …even though Orochimaru was at least a kilometre away from the structure, he could see no end – not left, not right, not up.  
How could something so huge still be transportable?!  
After twenty more seconds of rising, again something changed. He was no longer only ascending, but he was also brought closer to the structure at a slow pace, and the speed slowly decreased.  
Immediately after, the structure changed again. It seemed to have gotten much slimmer (although there was still no end in sight) and he could see the next portion of the structure protruding over him, so it was also much shorter. The clod was now only about a hundred metres away from the structure. And when it reached the next part of the structure, which reached much farther out than the former part, the clod followed its outline. Finally coming from underneath the next part, the clod rose higher, and it passed a relatively pointy part before a giant horizontal, gashed rift that extended over the entire width of the structure came into view. It seemed to go upwards slightly left and right …and the display seemed to be somehow familiar to Orochimaru. But it didn't click until after ten more seconds, when he rose even further, and saw the end of two other giant rifts left and right, which went half upwards and half in the direction where they were located in. A big, plain part of the substance the structure was made of between them…  
His eyes widened in utter disbelief. Was that …_jaws_ and a _snout_?!  
It was. It finally dawned on him that he was raising to the top of a _living creature_ …a monumental monstrosity made of light, big enough to swallow an entire village of the size of Konohagakure with a single bite!  
Since the clod had gotten significantly slower, it took about fifteen seconds until he could barely see the edges of something that looked like two giant dark blue shining orbs to his left and right (eyes!) as he passed them, and another fifteen seconds until he was suddenly no longer floating next to yellow, orange and blue, but next to an oval that – albeit smaller than most of the other body parts he had seen– was still at least 1/8 the size of Konohagakure. The oval was of a bright, cyan colour. The black-red lightning ceased. And there, floating in the midst of the oval …was…

-Real world-

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what had happened next! Not even the strongest memory restoration Jutsu had worked. It seemed as if his sub-consciousness was blocking the memory out. But why? Sure, the size of the creature had been …impressive, but it was still only imagination. What could he have seen that had frightened him that much?!  
Unaware of the musings or the identity of the man sitting next to him, Hiruzen kept watching over the stadium.  
Meanwhile, another man was doing the same thing from the grand stand. Completely throwing aside his trademark lateness, Kakashi Hatake had ended the training with Sasuke as soon as possible, and had been one of the first to be in the stadium. He gazed at the arena with nervous anticipation. Today and here were the time and the place Naruto had promised to be back. But …after he had searched for him for two whole days, and failed to find a trace of him, no matter how hard he looked and what he tried, he was very confused – and worried that the letter might have been a fake, that someone had taken Naruto for unknown purposes. Not to mention that he felt extremely guilty, thinking that all of this could've been avoided if he'd talked to Naruto, back in Kakutane.  
Considering that, it was no miracle that the waiting and uncertainty were killing him.

_-/"Okay … it's almost time for the participants to show up …gotta stay calm …he _will _be there!"/_

He tried to reassure himself. In that very moment, he noticed a figure moving to the centre of the arena – Hayate Gekko. The chatter in the stadium died down as the other watchers noticed him.  
The waiting was over, and the moment all the occupants of the stadium had been waiting for was there.

-"Alright -cough-. The participants of -cough- the Chunin-exam-finals may please enter -cough- the arena now!"

The last word still echoed in the silent stadium as the participants entered the arena. And among them…

_-/"There he is!"/_

The Sandaime and Kakashi thought in unison.  
Naruto Uzumaki was there, standing among the other participants, healthy and –going by his face– in a very good mood. The two men unknowingly breathed a silent sigh of relief at exactly the same time.  
After the initial relief was over, though, anger and burning questions followed.

_-/"That boy has a lot of explaining to do once I get my hands on him!"/_

Both thought at the same time. Down in the arena, Naruto felt an unexplainable chill going down his spine.  
Naruto took a look at the other participants. His teammate Sasuke had switched his blue T-shirt with the Uchiha-emblem with a black, skin-tight T-shirt that would blend into his black pants flawlessly in every normal human's eyes (Naruto could clearly see the small rift where the end of the shirt was stuffed in his pants). All the other participants looked exactly like they had looked like one month ago.  
Kankuro: still with the mummy-like object on his back, and make-up (Naruto wondered whether that was fashionable in Suna, or if Kankuro unconsciously wanted to cover the two scars on his face that went from the bottom of his eyes all the way down his face, and were invisible to a normal human's eye). Temari: four pigtails, and a giant fan on her back. Shino: bulky, grey jacket –its collar covered the lower half of his face– and dark sunglasses (he wondered whether the boy had a secret complex about his face, or if it was some Aburame-tradition). Gaara: gourd on his back, black rings under his eyes, and that empty eyes with craziness in them. Shikamaru: lazy looking as ever. He noticed that the Oto-nin was missing, and was confused for a second – until he remembered his first return to the village, after he and his team had gone to Kakutane (at the same time, Hayate explained that there had been some changes in the tournament-schedule, which Naruto listened to with half an ear).  
And then, there was Neji Hyuuga: crossed arms, long black hair and the cold, hard Byakugan-eyes (they were so unlike Hinata's – her eyes were soft, with a light tint of lavender mixed in the white, and seemed to radiate politeness and kindness, making Naruto wonder how two sets of eyes could be so similar, and yet completely different at the same time).  
His unmoving face that showed cold dignity and just a hint of arrogance, and his stoic posture made Naruto remember Hinata, lying on the ground in a small pool of her own blood, and more red liquid dripping from her mouth …her pale face seemingly getting even whiter by the second…  
He unconsciously clenched his fists. Oh, he would make that bastard pay …Dattebayo!  
Tearing his gaze from Neji, he looked at the other participants to calm himself down. He noticed that Sasuke looked slightly annoyed, though he tried to hide it with his usual brooding face.  
Did someone question the statement that Uchiha were the best?  
And Gaara looked down at the ground, as if he was thinking about something – or was he merely eager to begin with his `blood-feeding`?  
The two boys in question were not very happy, indeed. Sasuke was annoyed because not only had Kakashi made him wait two days before they had resumed the training, but he had also kept it as short as possible, and had been more eager to make it to the stadium on time, rather than to make the training the most effective. When Sasuke had asked what was wrong, he had merely replied that there was something he had to make sure of.  
Gaara, meanwhile, couldn't get the strange creature out of his head. He had kept watching the hospital every night after he had first seen it, but it hadn't returned. The urge to find that creature was so strong that he didn't even regret he had wasted his chance to kill Lee. The fact that the Shukaku had been unusual quiet ever since made him even more curious about it … and slightly confused.

**_Inside Gaara's seal_**

Unbeknownst to everyone else, the giant Tanuki was lost in his very own thoughts. The creature at the hospital six days ago …that was one of _them_. No doubt about it. Shukaku hadn't seen one of them in centuries …scratch that, _millennia_! That made him very curious …and slightly scared because…

_-/"If it's really one of them … then he or she must've met the old man."/_

Shukaku, like every other Bijuu, saw the Rikudou Sennin as a father-figure, and cared deeply for him. The possibility that he might be able to talk to him once again excited him …but at the same time, it made him think about how the old man would think of the way Shukaku had lived.  
It had not always been the crazy, bloodthirsty creature it was today. There had been a time when it had enjoyed watching the moon in a clear night in the desert, and taking long, peaceful naps during noon, listening to the noises of his surroundings.  
But when the humans started hunting the Bijuu for the sake of power, it had been the first one to be captured. Not only had that been terribly humiliating and frightening, it had also made him incredible angry – not just because of what the humans had done to him, but also because the fact that he had been captured first supported Kurama's belief that their strength depended on their number of tails.  
All Bijuu had extremely disliked Kurama because of that belief, but none of them as much as Shukaku. That his belief had seemingly been proven had driven him completely crazy. And over the centuries and millennia of enslavement, that craziness had become full-blown _madness_ and a bottomless hatred not only to all humans, but also to every being that co-existed with them – like the summoning-animals.  
Only now, he remembered that old man Rikudou had also been human …and that he had done everything he could to protect them and to allow them to lead a good life.  
What would he say if he knew –and there was no way in hell he _didn't_ know– that Shukaku had destroyed human life whenever he had gotten the chance?  
Would he be sad? Would he be mad? Would he …hate him?  
Doubts and guilt plagued his mind as he brooded in the depths of Gaara's soul…

**-Outside world-**

-"Ahem …-cough- may I ask you to -cough- face the audience instead of each other? You guys are -cough- the main actors in this event, you know?"

Hayate's words snapped Naruto out of his observations. As asked, he directed his gaze to the audience, searching for familiar faces.  
There was Sakura. It was really strange ...he still felt that need to be close to her, but...  
Ever since the first day of the academy, he had felt an unexplainable urge to be in the near of the pink-haired Kunoichi-to-be. He had figured that that feeling was love back then ...but if he looked at it purely observant -something he hadn't been able to do prior to `the incident`- he couldn't think of a single thing he could list as a reason why he'd have had fallen in love with her (it wasn't that he didn't like her, he could think of many reasons he would _like _her ...but `like` and `love` were two entirely different things - and he knew that difference now). Furthermore, he noticed that he didn't feel any real jealously when he saw her fawning over Sasuke. Just a sting at his pride as Sasuke's rival.  
Next to her was Ino, who was sitting next to Choji and his all-present bag of potato chips. Neji's teammate Tenten, who was wearing a red sleeveless shirt instead of a pink one today, sat in another corner of the stadium. Next to her were Super-bushy-brow-sensei and …Bushy-brow!

_-/"So he _did _come out of the hospital for this!"/_

Naruto thought. He felt a twinge of guilt as he thought about Lee's injuries, even though he had done everything he could. Well …not _all_ hope was lost just yet.  
He let his gaze wander further to meet Kakashi-sensei's eye – and immediately understood the chill he'd felt earlier.

_-/"Oops …if looks could kill…"/_

Shuddering, he broke the contact with his Sensei's flaming eye and let his own gaze wander to the Kage-box…  
Bad idea.

_-/"…I just hope they'll listen to me before they tear me apart."/_

He thought, feeling bad he had worried his precious people that much. Last, but not least, he saw Kiba …who was busy arranging the limbs of a certain, limp Hyuuga, so she could sit without his help. Naruto had to suppress a half-embarrassed, half-amused giggle.

_-/"I really have to think of a solution for this …wouldn't want her to go through that every time I ask her out …wait a second, does that mean I'm planning to make this a regular thing?!"/_

Thinking about it, that didn't really sound like a bad idea...  
In that moment, the Hokage rose up to announce the beginning of the Chunin-exam-finals.

-"To all our guests: welcome to Konoha and the Chunin-exams! I whole-heartily wish that what you see and experience here will make it worth your long journey. To _everyone_ present: thank you for coming to the Chunin-exams! Please stay and watch to the end!"

With that, he sat back down. The audience gave him a grand, cheering applause. When everything was quiet again, Hayate (with some difficulty) raised his voice to an audible level.

-"We will now begin -cough- the exams. Our eight participants will engage in -cough- one-on-one battles in classic tournament style. The first fight -cough- is Neji Hyuuga against Naruto Uzumaki! Everyone besides the two in question: Please leave the arena and go to the grand stand."

Up in the stand, a dazed Hyuuga finally blinked and stirred at the mention of her crush's name.

-"N …Naruto-kun?"

After she stared down at the object of her affection for a second, she blinked again and looked around, bewildered.

-"Finally!"

Kiba sighed in relief. Hinata started.

-"H-huh?! Kiba-kun?!"

He cast her a disbelieving glance.

-"You mean you haven't even noticed how I carried you here?"

Hinata blushed deep red and got unbelievable flustered when it dawned upon her what had transpired – and that what Naruto had said to her had _not_ been a dream.

-"U-U-U-umm …W-Well …I-I-I-I…"

Kiba raised his hand to silence her.

-"Naruto's fight is starting now. You can tell me later."

Hinata blushed even more and nodded, while she looked down at the arena again.

Naruto and Neji had positioned themselves in the opposite halves of the arena, and stared at each other. The Hyuuga noticed Naruto's narrowed eyes and his clenched fists.

-"You look as if you want to say something."

He said.

-"I already told you."

Naruto replied, while raising a closed fist and pointing at Neji with his arm.

-"I'm going to give you hell for what you did to Hinata!"

Neji activated his bloodline to check out his opponent.

_-/"There is no doubt in his eyes …the possibility of losing doesn't even exist in his mind."/_

With a small smirk, he got into his battle-stance.

-"It'll be fun to watch you fall apart when you finally discover the inevitability of fate."

Up in the stands, two people next to Hinata and Kiba started talking.

-"I can't believe that guy actually made it to the finals."

-"Yeah …he must've been very lucky."

-"But …he cannot possibly win this."

-"No. It's kind of sad, but there is no way. His opponent is too strong."

Hinata send the two people an angry glare (for Hinata's standards, at least).

_-/"You don't know Naruto-kun!"/_

She thought angrily. Kiba had similar thoughts.

_-/"Well …a while ago, I might have said the same …but …you will pay if you underestimate this guy."/_

In another corner of the stadium…

-"Yes, Naruto-kun! Show him your youthful flames!"

Lee cheered happily, although the fact that he couldn't move that much slightly hindered him. Gai smiled fondly at his student, but didn't cheer himself. Not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't. He knew that Neji was in the wrong in this matter, and wished for Naruto to win, but Neji was still Gai's student. And Gai –who took his responsibilities as a teacher much more serious than some people gave him credit for– didn't want to turn on one of his students. So he remained silent.  
His female charge, Tenten, sighed.

_-/"Damn …I know Neji is technically in the wrong here …but …teammates should support each other, shouldn't they? So …it should be okay if I'd cheer him on, shouldn't it? …Oh, who am I kidding …I always told the other girls that their brainless fawning over boys is unfitting for Kunoichi …and yet, I'm doing no better than them. …I never would've imagined myself to be a hypocrite…"/_

In another corner of the stadium…

-"Watch this match carefully, Hanabi. No one has inherited as much of the Hyuuga's blood as Neji."

Hiashi, leader of the Hyuuga-clan, told his younger daughter, Hanabi.

-"Yes, father."

She replied.

Back down in the arena…

-"You sure talk a lot about fate. Do you plan to marry that guy?"

Neji snorted.

-"Don't talk as if you know anything about fate. It's inevitable. You will soon understand it."

Naruto snorted back.

-"I don't know whether or not I know fate. But I know that there _is_ no excuse for doing something like what you did to your own family!"

Neji's activated Byakugan narrowed, and hatred glinted in his eyes.

-"What would _you_ know about family?"

He snarled. Naruto's gaze hardened, and he decided to speak out one of the things he'd learned during the last five days.

-"I'm not stupid, Neji. I know that there's a difference between `family` and `people with genes similar to yours`."

That was something so _un-Naruto-like_ to say that everyone who knew him was shocked by it. Even Neji raised an eyebrow at his words.

-"But I also know that Hinata would be happy to be a part of your family – even despite what you did to her. If you would only _let_ her. But you don't. In fact, you keep _everyone_ who could be a part of your family on distance. Your teammates, your Sensei, Hinata …for what purpose, Neji? Do you _like_ being the lonesome jerk?!"

Neji was almost trembling with anger now.

-"Enough of this nonsense! I will make sure you understand soon."

Hayate, seeing the two participants getting heated up, raised his arm.

-"The rules -cough- are the same as in the prelims. There are none. The fight ends once one of the participants gives up -cough- or dies. However, if I find that the fight is decided, I will step in and end it. Got it?! Good -cough-. The first fight of the Chunin-exams will begin now. Get ready …and …FIGHT!"

Neji started rushing towards his opponent the moment the proctor's hand descended to the ground. But he was stopped short as he saw what his opponent did.  
Naruto, instead of going in a battle-stance, turned around calmly, and started walking towards the wall of the arena at a slow pace, not looking back once.  
He was almost there already when Neji snapped out of his stupor and asked in a confused tone:

-"What's wrong? Didn't you say you would make me pay? Or did you finally understand that you cannot win this fight and are trying to flee?"

Naruto reached the wall and turned around to face Neji again, with a straight face.

-"No, why?"

Neji's eyes narrowed and he rushed towards Naruto at full speed. Naruto, meanwhile, remained completely unmoving, awaiting him. The Hyuuga prodigy was honestly confused, but at the same time he was so angry that he didn't think much of it. As he closed in on him, he raised his right hand at Naruto –who _still_ did nothing to prevent his apparent doom– and struck at his chest with a Juuken-strike.  
He really expected him to move, to block him, to do _anything_ …but he didn't. The strike connected with his chest flawlessly – right were the heart was.  
He was so stunned that he lost his footing and tumbled against Naruto, with his head landing in the crook of his neck.  
The audience held their breath. Was this the end of the fight already? Neji, likewise, was shocked. Despite what Naruto had said, he hadn't wanted to kill him, only to disable him. He had honestly thought he would evade that strike…  
Lifting his head, he expected to see a fountain of blood coming out of the blonde's mouth, maybe dull, lifeless eyes staring back at him…  
He had certainly not expected him to _grin_ at him mischievously and carefree.

-"Why, I feel flattered, Neji ...but I don't swing that way."

The entire audience –including Neji– was shocked speechless.  
What happened next was so fast that only Neji and the more experienced Genin, Chunin and Jounin in the stadium really saw it.  
1/3 of a second: Naruto stood before Neji, both arms at his sides and completely relaxed.  
2/3 of a second: Naruto's left hand suddenly had Neji's right wrist captured in an adamant grip.  
1 second: Neji was lifted off his feet as Naruto swirled him around, and smashed his entire body into the wall to his left.  
1 1/3 seconds: Before Neji's body had a change to surrender to gravity, Naruto's left hand –which still held Neji's wrist– took another round around his body, in effect smashing him in the wall again – this time to Naruto's right.  
1 2/3 seconds: Naruto smashed Neji in the wall to his left again – this time, the resulting smack was loud enough to resound in the stadium.  
2 seconds: Naruto whirled Neji away from the left wall again – and finally let go of his wrist when his hand was halfway to his front, in effect hurling Neji to the other side of the arena, where he collided with the opposite wall, and finally slumped down on the ground. During the entire act, Naruto hadn't moved, safe for his left arm.  
Neji slowly pushed himself up on his hands, only stopping to spasm a little as he vomited a gush of blood. His entire body hurt like hell. At least four ribs were broken. He could clearly feel it, and see it with his Byakugan. Shakily, he rose to his feet again, wiping the blood off his mouth. His entire head was filled with shock, disbelief and confusion as he looked at Naruto, who still stood unmoving at the other side of the arena.

_-/"What the … how did …what … is…"/_

But before his mind could form any coherent thoughts, Naruto suddenly rushed over the arena-floor, with such speed that by the time Neji fully realised he wasn't standing in his previous spot any longer, he was already only a meter away from him, his right fist raised to strike.  
It was only by sheer reflex that Neji managed to dodge. And Naruto's fist missed his right cheek only by the breadth of a hair before it collided with the wall behind Neji…  
And _shattered_ it.  
The impact was ear-deafening, especially from as close up as Neji was, resulting in him stumbling and falling to the ground. The moment Naruto's fist made contact with the stone, countless medium-sized and small stone-clods broke out of the solid wall and bend around his fist, similar to water.  
At the same time, several thick cracks appeared, right before a three-meters-wide part of the wall –and even a one-meter-wide part of the fence on top of the wall– collapsed in massive clods of stone and small stone-splinters, revealing a part of the gallery around the stadium (a shocked, frozen in mid-step man stood there, looking flabbergasted through the new hole in the wall) and making several people up in the stand back away in shocked fright. Naruto evaded the rain of heavy rocks and splinters by quickly shuffling back.  
It was only by sheer luck that the stunned Neji wasn't hit by any of the fragments.

-"Oops…"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

-"Maybe I overdid it a little…"

Neji, by now, was starting to hyperventilate.

_-/"Holy …! If …if that would've hit me …"/_

Images of flesh and blood splashed all over the ground, and of a headless corpse filled his mind.

_-/"I would've …! …I …I would be…"/_

His thoughts were silenced as he saw Naruto coming down on him with an axe-kick. He quickly rolled to the side, barely avoiding being broken in half. The impact shattered the ground and send pieces of earth flying in all directions. The resulting shockwave send Neji rolling over the ground a few times before he got to his feet, the adrenaline washing away all the pain and weakness he felt – but the fright, confusion and uneasiness remained. He straightened up, only to have to side-step to narrowly avoid a punch to his stomach. Giving him no break, Naruto send a swift kick to his opponents' chest, which he dodged by quickly kneeling down – but again, only a hairsbreadth had separated Neji from certain death, and the wind that blew through his hair from the force of the kick was testament of that. Then, he had to do a back-flip so quickly that his sandals painfully rubbed on his skin from the sudden pressure as Naruto used the momentum of the first kick to whirl around and kick again – this time at Neji's feet. Neji got no time to breathe as he landed on his feet and already saw Naruto come rushing at him again, and he spent the next minute desperately dodging Naruto's constant flurry of punches and kicks.  
Besides the sound of the fight –if you could call it that– it was absolutely silent. This fight was going the exact opposite of what the majority of the audience had expected.  
Instead of the prodigy easily winning, Naruto –the former dead-last of his class– was chasing Neji Hyuuga –the most talented Hyuuga in _generations_– through the arena like a frightened rabbit!  
He didn't even use proper forms! The sheer speed and the impendent doom at the end of his fists, knees, feet and elbows was more than enough to drive the Hyuuga back effortlessly. Only the sheer instinct of survival and the knowledge he couldn't doge Naruto's attacks forever forced Neji's brain to form a plan for a counter-attack.  
The next time Naruto struck at him, Neji jumped into the air as high as he could, and threw a shuriken at him. Naruto bend his upper body just enough to let it fly past him, not even blinking as it did. But as he jumped up and tried to hit Neji, the Hyuuga prodigy was suddenly jerked back to the ground as he pulled at the ninja-wire in both his hands.  
When he had thrown the shuriken at Naruto, he had thrown two kunai into the ground to his back at the same time: special kunai with barbs, which struck to the ground enough to withstand the strain Neji's pulling put on them – at least for a moment. Again, he barely escaped Naruto's attack by that. And now Naruto was up in the air – with no means to escape as Neji threw eight Shuriken at him. He almost sighed in relief when the shuriken actually made contact with Naruto's body – but then his breath got stuck in his throat as they bounced off of him with a dull clanging.  
The next moment, the air was forced out of his lungs as he fell on his back: the sight had shocked him to such an extent that he had forgotten he had still been falling.  
He had no time to chastise himself, though, as he saw Naruto using the arena wall he met on his flight to catapult himself at him with a raised fist. Neji put his hands on the ground beside his head and swung his legs over his head, doing a back flip and escaping the danger zone. The crater and the area of cracked earth Naruto created were even bigger than the last one. Neji skidded over the ground a little from the shockwave, but managed to keep standing. Through his Byakugan, he noticed that Naruto's jumpsuit was cut where the shuriken had hit him, but his skin underneath was perfectly fine.  
When Naruto rushed at him again, Neji did the one thing he hadn't been able to do during their previous clash, since he had had to move his feet all the time.

-"Kaiten!"

The sphere of Chakra and Naruto collided with a loud, crashing sound. Naruto stumbled back, but the Kaiten dissipated at the same time, and the crater in the ground was not circular, but stretched. Despite the Kaiten, Neji had _still_ been pushed back slightly.

_-/"How can …a human's body …be this strong?!"/_

Neji thought in the back of his head. There were many Shinobi in the world who were strong enough to throw a human body over certain distances with one arm – Neji's Sensei, for example. But even Gai-sensei had to move his shoulder and shift his ankle a bit for that. Naruto hadn't done that. And Neji had had his Byakugan activated, so he knew for sure (although his vision had, of course, been very blurred at that time). It was as if Naruto hadn't even _noticed_ his weight. The thing with the shuriken was still completely unexplainable. And shattering stone-walls without breaking your hand and pushing back a Hyuuga who was executing Kaiten with brute force was completely unheard of – well, the first not –Tsunade of the Sannin had proven to be capable of this feat, for example– but a _Genin_?! And the former dead-last of the class, on top of that?!  
His survival instincts, however, had taken control of his battered body and the majority of his thinking ever since Naruto had crushed the wall behind him, and his body was moving on autopilot.  
Going into a certain stance, he yelled:

-"You are within my field of Hakke!"

Up in the stands, Hiashi inhaled sharply as he recognised the stance, and Naruto's eyebrows rose as Neji came at him.  
As Neji closed in on Naruto, he was very afraid. Though the Hakke-Rokujuuyonshou granted its user a huge burst of speed during the move, considering what he had seen so far, Naruto might still be able to counterattack. Naruto, however, remained straight and unmoving, almost as if anticipating being hit – which added to Neji's confusion, which grew by the second. That didn't stop him from executing the attack, though.

-"Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Hakke-Rokujuuyonshou!"

With each yell, he struck more, and quicker, until his arms were finally nothing but a blur at the last strikes. A perfect execution of the most famous attack of the Hyuuga.  
His opponent, however, was neither thrown back nor did he collapse at the end of the attack.  
Instead, he merely skidded about a metre over the ground, and his body bend to dampen the force.  
To his horror, Neji saw through his Byakugan that his opponent's Tenketsu were still wide open.

-"Wow."

Naruto said. Since he remained in a slightly bend position, his eyes were hidden by the shadows of his head and his hair.

-"The strongest defence, and the strongest attack. Both of them are only taught to members of the main branch, and even there, Hakke-Rokujuuyonshou is usually reserved just for the eldest child of the parents. You recreated it by yourself, right? …you invented it again, just by watching some main branch members, and thinking about it.  
It seems that …you really are a damn genius."

As Naruto unbend himself, his eyes had a hint of …_sadness_ in them.

-"I really don't get it …If you're so smart, then why are you such an idiot at the same time?!"

If someone would've dropped a needle right now, it would've seemed as loud as thunder.  
Kiba had his jaw on the floor and didn't even realise it, while he asked himself how the hell he'd managed to survive his last fight with Naruto.  
Hinata was in a state of shock, and didn't understand what was going on at all. But she was also proud of the strength her crush displayed, and glad that he didn't seem to be in danger – even though she fiercely believed in Naruto, she still had been worried that he might get hurt in his fight against Neji.  
Ino was simply frozen solid, while Sakura's eyes were, for once, not riveted on Sasuke (who stood just three meters away) but on her other teammate.

_-/"Naruto? …Is …is that …really you?"/_

Sasuke watched the match in utter disbelief, but also in jealously. He wanted to know how the dope had managed to gain that much power in just a week.  
Choji had actually dropped his bag of chips, and Shikamaru was watching the match intently and with wide eyes.  
Hiashi Hyuuga couldn't decide what amazed him more. Neji's talent, or the unwavering force the other boy was – the fact that the Shinobi who was once nothing but the village pariah and prankster now possessed a power that allowed him to take the full force of a Hakke-Rokujuuyonshou, and remaining unscathed.  
Gaara was …intrigued. So much power …killing this boy would be a thrill. Furthermore, Naruto's form seemed familiar somehow. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but…  
Both Kakashi and the Sandaime felt the same kind of disbelief, amazement …and worry and confusion. Unknowingly, they thought the same thing once again.

_-/"Naruto …just what on earth happened to you on that day …and in the following five days?!"/_

Neji, meanwhile, was starting to despair. His strongest attack –the only one he could possibly hit an opponent with that speed with– had proven to be ineffective for reasons he –once again– didn't know. A normal Juuken-strike hadn't faced him either.  
What else could he possibly do?

_-/"This can't be …it's impossible …just …just who the hell is he?!"/_

Just before he could voice that question, Naruto spoke up again.

-"You know …this is actually a great opportunity, now that I think about it."

-"Huh?!"

-"Neji …use that Kaiten of yours with more power this time."

Naruto bend his knees a little as he talked.

-"´Cause otherwise …you'll die."

With that being said, Naruto leaped into the air. Three meters, five meters, ten…  
By the time he stopped ascending, he was twenty meters over the ground. Neither Neji nor the audience had the time to be surprised though, as he stretched out his right arm, his fingers slightly bend and spread apart, and his palm pointing at Neji. Tiny, blue shining particles, that seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the air surrounding Naruto's hand, were drawn to the centre of his palm to gather and compress there, until, after about two seconds, a fist-sized ball of blue energy had formed.

-"Soul Flare!"

He cried out before the orb of light shot down like a small meteor. The shockwave that occurred as it was let loose was so strong that the air around him pulsed, Naruto's arm was driven back a little, and he himself was lifted two more metres into the air.  
The energy-bullet was so fast that, by the time Neji reacted, it was almost too late.

-"Kaiten!"

He screamed, pouring as much Chakra as he could in his Jutsu. As he started spinning, the orb hit.  
The resulting explosion blew several people at the fence off their feet. It was different from normal explosions. The blue energy didn't simply expand, it vibrated, raged and rampaged violently, as if the blue mass had a will of its own, and wanted to annihilate everything it touched without a trace.  
When the dust settled down and the audience dared to uncover their faces again, they saw the results of the clash. Nearly the entire arena ground had turned into a giant crater. Only the last two metres before the wall had escaped the destruction. And in the middle of the crater …was an elevation with a smaller crater on top of it. In the middle of it was Neji, his clothes torn, and several bad burns adorning his skin. He was down on his hands and knees, and tried to get up, shacking uncontrollably.

_-/"How …how can this be …?! I poured fifteen percent of my maximum chakra into that Kaiten …how is it that that shot could break through,_ still_?!"/_

In that moment, Naruto landed near the arena wall. The now most mysterious Genin of Konohagakure overlooked the destruction he had caused.  
Then he sighed.

-"Crap … I used much more power than I intended to in that flare. ´Guess I still need more training…"

With a painful-sounding hiss, Neji managed to get up on one knee, one hand on his other knee, and the other still on the ground. He didn't need to lift his gaze to look at Naruto.

-"Who …-wheeze- who are you? …_What_ are you?!"

Naruto's face got uncharacteristically solemn, and if you looked really closely, you could see that his eyes held a slight glint of uncertainty. For a few seconds, he was silent.  
Then he spoke.

-"Well …oh, why am I beating around the bush?! Now is as good a time as any."

He started walking forward at a slow pace, until he came to a stop halfway between Neji and the wall he previously stood at. After that, he lifted his head to face the entire audience.

-"I'm sure you're all very curious about the reasons behind …well, _this_. And probably a whole lot confused as well."

True words.

-"I promised I would answer everything when I come back before I left. And I never go back on my word, since that's my Nindo. So I'll answer everything I can – some things I shouldn't say right now, since I'd need to go too far afield for a monologue during a fight."

Not only Kakashi and Hiruzen leaned forward in their seats at those words. Naturally, the new abilities the village pariah had displayed had driven the curiosity level of the entire local audience to the critical level.  
Naruto raised his hands.

-"That being said …I guess it's best if I show you instead."

With that, he put his hands behind his head and began to untie his Hitai-ate. A few people raised their eyebrows and murmured in confusion.  
But the murmurs changed into a collective gasp as the Hitai-ate fell away to reveal a …_not_ bare forehead.  
Where once was only even skin, there was now a cyan, jewel-like object of the size of an egg in the middle of his forehead. It looked slightly sheer, but thankfully not so much that you could see deeper body regions.  
After dropping his hands while holding his Hitai-ate in his left hand, Naruto remained unmoving for a couple of seconds. Then he closed his eyes.  
At the same moment, the oval on his forehead began to glow, before his eyes snapped back open, and his body followed suit as a substance that looked like yellow, luminescent air was seeping out of his body.  
In a split-second, his entire body was emitting the light-like substance, forming some kind of second skin around him. It wasn't skin-tight everywhere, though. On his chest, groin and pelvis, the substance was thicker, and there seemed to be strange ornaments on them. He suddenly stood on the balls of his feet, and the substance down there formed longer feet than Naruto actually had. His toes were longer, too.  
The head the substance formed was so different from Naruto's actual head that it looked almost ridiculous. Instead of a small mouth, it had jaws with toe-long, sharp teeth, and ended in a snout with slotted, reptilian-like nostrils, that reached about fifteen centimetres farther than Naruto's actual chin. The eyes above his had no pupils, and were entirely coloured in the same dark-blue as his actual eyes, making him look quite intimidating.  
At the back of the projective head, there were several horns, and strange, sprout-like protuberances -they were shaped kind of like tentacles, but were unmoving and solid, and had the same colour and surface as the rest of the head- forming a crest of some sort.  
The tops of his fingers and toes where extended to sharp, blue-glowing claws, and there was an additional horn-like claw at the back of each of the newly placed ankles.  
Last, but certainly not least, two big masses of the glowing energy burst forth from his back to form …wings!  
They consisted of three limb-like parts, of which the first two were each about five centimetres longer than Naruto's outstretched arm (including hands and fingers) would be, while the third was about twenty-five centimetres longer. At the end of each second part were three clawed fingers of the length of Naruto's hands, and half the width – one of them seemed to be freely movable, like a thumb. The last segment of each wing looked like an oversized, bend finger of the half-hand at the end of each second segment. Instead of feathers, the aerofoils were made of a scaly, leathery membrane, which seemed to be solid and elastic at the same time. The joints of the first limb-part of the wings were located at Naruto's shoulders, while the ends of the membranes were attached to his hips.  
In the instant the wings were spread apart as they appeared, the membranes were stretched by a bone which was imbedded in the midst of each membrane, which was attached to the half-hand like another, mutated finger, and each of the wings was wider than Naruto's body – and more than two times as long.  
Then he bend the wings' joints, showing that the second joints bend inwards and the third's outwards. Thus, he folded the wings close to his body, making them look much smaller than they actually were (they protruded only about twenty centimetres from his shoulders and reached down to the height of his knees in their folded state).  
Strangely, even though the ethereal layer differed from his physical body so much, it looked completely natural on him, just as any other part of his body. His entire, ethereal form was coloured in a bright yellow, adorned with numerous thin, orange lines that spread over his entire body, a bit like veins …and he shone like a small sun.  
Hinata was struck by an incredible strong sense of Déjà vu as she remembered the dreams she had had the last couple of days.

-"Naruto-kun …like an angel…"

She was too awe-struck and stunned to even notice she had muttered the words out aloud. And the people around her were too caught up in her own feelings to hear what she had said.  
Only Naruto heard it – and had to fight down a blush and a flustered smile.  
Kankuro was brought out of his stupor as he noticed Gaara tensing beside him.

-"He …it …that's it! It …is …he!"

He gripped the fence so hard the metal bend under his fingers, sand started to swirl around him …and he stared at the luminescent boy with a look of utter madness …and _hunger_.  
Kankuro immediately did all he could to convince Gaara to wait until the right time.  
Unbeknownst to everyone else, Orochimaru's eyes widened as a memory flooded his brain. What countless memory restoration Jutsu had been unable to do …The sight of the luminescent boy down in the arena did it. Orochimaru remembered the rest of his dream.

-Orochimaru's dream (continuation)-

The black-red lightning ceased. And there, floating in the midst of the oval …was …_Naruto Uzumaki_!  
There was no room for doubts. The Naruto in front of him was bigger and broad-shouldered – a teenager and no longer a boy, and his outfit was now more of a mix of black and orange instead of nearly completely orange. But it was definitely him. The whisker-marks, blue eyes and yellow, messy hair left no doubt.  
His eyes and his entire posture were different, too. He had that kind of radiance that you only got if you saw many unbelievable things …survived dangers most people didn't even know about, accomplished feats that would seem impossible to most people …the aura of a truly great man.  
Actually, it was even stronger than that. He looked as if nothing could face him …as if he knew everything …could do anything. Floating in that orb in this monstrous creature he seemed…  
like a _god_.  
He looked down at Orochimaru with sadness. As if he felt sorry for the fallen Sannin.  
Then, Orochimaru felt his lips moving. But he didn't hear what he was saying. Naruto slightly tilted his head to the side –a gesture which should look child-like and dump, but didn't– and his eyes glinted with a look of …fulfilling destiny and understanding. He moved his own lips, but just like Orochimaru hadn't been able to hear his own words, he also couldn't hear Naruto's. But he felt his head bow to give the blonde man a nod.  
Naruto answered with a nod of his own. A second later, yellow energy gathered itself in front of Orochimaru, compressing into a tiny spot of brightly shining light. A bright flash, and then…  
Darkness.

-end of Orochimaru's dream (this time for real!)-

Sucking in a sharp breath, Orochimaru returned to the real world. Now he understood perfectly. This was what had scared him so much he had blocked it out. Death. The one thing he had feared the most ever since his parents had died. But …that was ridiculous! Sure, the blonde kid had displayed some surprisingly impressive abilities in the last few minutes, but …could it really be he would one day become the very thing that would bring Orochimaru to his end?!

-"That was you!"

Many spectators flinched at the sudden yell. Naruto turned to the proctor, Hayate, an eyebrow raised quizzically.

-"That creature from a week ago –the one who saved me from that Suna-nin– that was you!"

Hayate repeated. Naruto chuckled awkwardly, and scratched the back of his head (that gesture looked a bit strange due to the ethereal horn-sprout-mane).

-"Well …yeah, that was me."

Several people –including the Sandaime and Kakashi– looked at Naruto even more shocked than before.

-"I'll explain –and show– that and a few more things now."

Naruto continued. When he spoke, his ethereal jaws opened and closed and the glowing skin around his second teeth moved lightly, matching the movements of his actual mouth. He raised his gaze to look at Kakashi in the grand stand.

-"First of all …Kakashi-sensei, I'm really sorry for lying to you about the time I was send to retrieve the lost scroll on that day in Kakutane. And I'm sorry I made both you and Jiisan worry so much about me."

Both Kakashi and the Sandaime slowly gave a slight nod in affirmation. Naruto lowered his gaze and seemed to hesitate a little. Then, he looked up to face the audience again.

-"The truth is …I died that day."

* * *

Translations

Hitai-ate: Headband of a Shinobi

Shinobi: Ninja.

Jounin: Highest regular ninja-rank.

Chunin: Mid-rank-ninja. Ranked higher than Genin and lower than Jounin.

Genin: The lowest Ninja-rank, which is entered after someone graduates from the Ninja-academy. Genin only operate in three-man-cells and under the supervision of a Jounin-sensei.

Ninja-academy: Whoever wants to become a Shinobi has to graduate from this facility. The common age to enter the academy is six-year-old. All the basic-knowledge a Shinobi needs is taught there.

Sensei: `Teacher`.

Konohagakure: `The village hidden in the leaves`. Naruto's birthplace and home, and one of the five great Shinobi-villages.

Chunin-exam: Exam Genin can participate in to earn the rank of Chunin. Although a successful admittance doesn't ensure the promotion.

Sandaime: `The third`.

Hokage: Fire Shadow. The leader of Konohagakure.

Yondaime: `The fourth`.

Hi no Kuni: `Land of fire`. The land Konohagakure is located in.

Genjutsu: `Illusion-technique`. The art of manipulating the opponent's five senses with Chakra, similar to hypnosis. Most Battle-oriented Genjutsu require a `trigger` of some sort (meaning the opponent has to see, touch, hear, smell or taste a certain thing in order for the Genjutsu to activate). However, there are also Genjutsu that conceal or change things for _everyone_. Those non-individual-related Genjutsu are tied to the objects or people (or part of the landscape) they conceal or change, and don't require any trigger.

Chakra: The fusion of spiritual and physical energy. The power Shinobi use to execute Jutsu.

Jutsu: `technique, art`. The techniques Shinobi use. They are divided into Ninjutsu-, Genjutsu- and Taijutsu-techniques.

Ninjutsu: `Shinobi-technique` The use of Chakra to manipulate your surroundings or even other people's bodies and minds.

Taijutsu: `Body-technique`. The techniques and attacks that merely require the user's body. Although it is possible to use Chakra to strengthen and influence someone's own body –and some Taijutsu even require it– it isn't a must.

Yuki no Kuni: `Land of snow`.

Kata: Sequence of movements that serves to train Battle techniques and to incorporate them into your reflexes.

Sunagakure: `Village hidden in the sand`. One of the five great Shinobi-villages. Ally of Konohagakure. Officially, at least…

Tokubetsu Jounin: A ninja who doesn't possess the overall-level regular Jounin possess, but rather has a specialisation in which he has Jounin-level-abilities. They rank above Chunin and behind regular Jounin.

ANBU: „**An**satsu Senjutsu Tokushu **Bu**tai" ("Special Assassination and Tactical Squad". This kind of ninjas can only be found in the five great villages. The members of this squad are hand–leased by the respective Kage for their skills. Going by rank, ANBU is the highest of the common ninja ranks: they cannot be arrested by normal police forces, and only the Kage is authorized to give orders to them. There are also special branches of the ANBU, whose members specialise in one deed. For example, there are the "Hunter Ninja", whose only duty is to hunt down and kill/capture Nuke–nin).

Nuke-nin; Shinobi or Kunoichi who were formerly members of a village, but betrayed and/or abandoned their village. Some keep their headband, but carve a slash through their village's symbol to show they're no longer members of it. Most of them are evil villains who either follow their own ambitions or take highly dubious missions from even more dubious people

Kyuubi: One of the Bijuu. This is only the name the humans gave him. His true name is Kurama – though at this point of the story, only the Bijuu and two `humans` know that. Its form resemblances a giant, nine-tailed fox.

Bijuu: Nine giant beings of Chakra in the Naruto-Universe. The humans named them after their tails, which differ in number for each one – from Ichibi, the one-tails, to Kyuubi, the nine-tails.

Kitsune: Japanese `fox` (also a mythological creature).

Kazekage: `Wind-shadow`. Leader of Sunagakure.

Shukaku: One of the Bijuu. Sometimes referred to as `Ichibi` (one-tails). Its form resemblances a giant Tanuki.

Tanuki: Japanese name for racoon dogs.

Byakugan: A Doujutsu. The only ones to possess it are members of the Hyuuga-clan. The Byakugan grants its possessor a nearly perfect 360°-vision (with only a tiny, blind spot at the back of the user's head) when activated, as well as the ability to see Chakra, Keirakukai and Tenketsu, and see through solid objects.

Doujutsu: A Kekkei-Genkai that lies in the eyes of a person.

Kekkei-Genkai: `Blood-line` An ability only the carriers of a certain gene can use.

Keirakukai: They are the `veins of Chakra` that channel Chakra through a person's body.

Tenketsu: `Crossroads` of the Keirakukai. Places where Chakra is spread through the single branches of the Keirakukai. There are 361 of them in a human body.

Aku: `Wrong, evil`.

Sennin: A special kind of Shinobi who is able to draw on the natural Chakra in his surroundings to strengthen himself.

Kun: Suffix used for male friends.

Kunoichi: Ninja (female).

Ramen: Noodle-soup.

Shunshin no Jutsu: `Body-flicker-technique`. The user uses Chakra to move so fast that he can't be seen anymore – but he can't interact with anything while it's active, so it's mostly used for travels. Furthermore, you have to see the spot you're moving to, or at least know it well. Its execution is usually accompanied by a cloud of smoke, leaves or something else.

Dono: `Lord`.

Dattebayo: A verbal uniqueness of Naruto. It can be roughly translated as `Believe it` or `For real`.

Rikudou Sennin: `Sage of the six paths`. A man who lived several millennia ago. The first man who was ever able to effectively meld and use his Chakra – in other words, the first Shinobi to ever walk on earth. He was also, without a doubt, and by a far amount, the most powerful one to the present day. His teachings were the basis that would later become the way of Shinobi.

Juuken: `Gentle fist`. The Hyuuga's fighting art. By channelling Chakra in the opponent's Keirakukai, the user causes heavy damage to the internal organs. Even the barest touch of a hand can be deadly if placed accurately, hence the name. The masters of this style can also stop or manipulate their opponent's Chakra-flow by hitting the Tenketsu.

Shuriken: Ninja star.

Kunai: Ninja knife. Can be used for both cutting and throwing.

Kaiten: A secret defence-technique of the Hyuuga-clan. The user pushes Chakra out of all his Tenketsu, thus creating a layer of Chakra around his body. Then he spins his body like a spin-top, creating a whirling dome of Chakra that deflects anything that touches it.

Sannin: Collective term for the three legendary Ninja Jiraiya the Toad-sennin, Tsunade the Slug-princess and Orochimaru. All of them were once pupils of the Sandaime.

Hakke Rokujuuyonshou: A secret attack-technique of the Hyuuga-clan. The user hits 64 of the Tenketsu with a speed that is far greater than his usual due to a Chakra-boost. Because those 64 Tenketsu lie in very central parts of the body, the opponent's Chakra-network is completely shut down, leaving him unable to move for a while. It doesn't kill him, though.

Jiisan: `Grandfather` (Don't get any wrong ideas – Naruto and Hiruzen aren't related, he merely calls him that).

* * *

A/N²: Well, that was the first chapter. I really struggled with it, especially with the beginning. I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but I had no idea on how to make it better without rewriting giant pieces of it. And that really was too much for me.  
Another thing I really had trouble with was the amount of time Naruto needed to polish the walls with Neji's back. As I already warned, Naruto will be god-like in this story - but only in the end. I really want to make his growth as realistic as possible. At the same time, I also wanted his first fight after ..."the incident" to be impressive. That's why it was _really_ frustrating to find the right speed. Hopefully I managed to make it acceptable.  
That being said, I really like the cliff-hanger. It's one of the reasons this chapter is such a monstrosity. Sorry again, but I really felt this was necessary.  
I'll update as soon as real life permits me to do so.  
Until then, I wish all good authors –Fanfiction-writers and regular authors alike– in the world a sea of creativity at their disposal.

A/N³: A little call-out to everyone who knows how to speak/write Japanese. The japanese sentence in the discription was translated by a friend of mine who speaks japanese ...but I'm not sure if I used the words he gave me correctly. It's supposed to mean "Rise above the three worlds ...Ryujin.".  
If anyone who knows the subject notices a mistake in it, I'd really appreciate it if he/she would let me know.

Arcana37210


	2. Chapter : Dragon's roar

**Rise of Ryujin**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other media this FanFiction contains traces of.

A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the delay, especially after the cliffhanger. I've had slight trouble getting a grasp on real life recently.

Well, first of all...a HUGE thanks to "**Serious Sam**", who offered to become my beta (and actually did become it ; -)). His influence should be clearly visible in the current chapter, and personally I think it's a huge improvement!

Thanks to all of my reviewers, too! Your feedback was very much appreciated. Since I only got fifteen (and that's _**NOT**_a complaint by any means!) I'll write a response to all of them this time. But in the future, I'm only going to address the ones that helped me the most.

**Ryuujin96**: Thanks for easing my fears about Naruto's initial power-level. And I really find it good that my first reviewer had a part of my story in his pen-name! Also, what I told you in my PM still stands. Just wait and see...

**Kage Bijuu**: Thank you! It actually was quite difficult to balance that, but I wanted to see Neji pay a little for almost killing Hinata before he'll be redeemed.

**nolanv3**: The waiting's over!

**Narutothedevil-dnd:** Thanks for the encouraging summary! And once again, sorry to make you guys wait.

**MrBojangles3154**: Yup, I'm evil, ain't I? ; -)

**Ayrmed**: Thank you, and I hope you'll like what you see!

**joe:** Thank you for the encouragement!

**Mishi Nagano**: Yeah, it WAS pretty long. Don't worry, the new chapter is of about half the length.

**ChoppedHige**: Thanks for leaving such a detailed review, and for your critique! My beta is of the same opinion as you, and is working well to get me to ditch that habit!

**SonRanma1**: Thank you for your words! Once again, sorry about the delay. I hope it was worth the wait!

**Lightningblade49**: Yeah, I had a picture of Hulk's beat down in my mind as well! A DbZ Character's energy attacks are a bit different from what I have imagined for the looks of 'Soul flare', though. To anyone reading this: If you want to get an idea of what 'Soul flare' looks like, search at youtube for the video "Final Fantasy VII - Bahamut", and imagine it to be fired from a hand instead of a maw, and it being a bit more...blue.

**bhdragons**: Hope it is soon enough!

**GinnyLover14**: Thanks! I like the start, too.

**DragonNOOB**: That's very good and part of the atmosphere that I was hoping to create. You better be prepared for ot, for we will be having many more deep situations in the future!

**Chayner**: Thank you for the kind works. It really made me feel good to read your review!

Just a little warning for the more sensitive people: There is a reason as to why I rated this story "M". And it's not just because I plan to make lemon chapters in the future.

Read and enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter one: Dragon's roar**

Did you know that even silence can actually have a sound? Unbelievable? Maybe – but an entire stadium full of people believed in it from this day onward.

A young boy – the village pariah and former dead last of the Ninja-academy – had just easily drubbed the prodigy of the famous Hyūga clan. That very same boy was surrounded by an ethereal layer of energy with wings on his back right now, and you would think nothing could be more stunning. But hearing this…

"What…What do you ***cough* **mean…you…died?" The confused and very battered Neji asked weakly.

About the same time, Kakashi let out a nervous, hollow chuckle. "Naruto, umm…you're standing right in front of us. You couldn't have died."

Naruto looked at his Sensei, a hint of sadness in his eyes. "I didn't get it at first, either…but I can." Before anyone else could say anything more, his clawed hand reached inside his jacket – and being careful not to damage the material – took out something that looked like a small glass ball, glowing in the colours of the rainbow.

"Like I said before…I think it's best to show you instead of explaining."

He held up the orb for the entire audience to see. "I don't quite understand how this works yet, but my memories of what happened, as well as the related memories of some…other beings have been stored inside this orb. And when they're released, well…just see for yourself."

Before the Sandaime, Kakashi or anyone else could throw a question in, Naruto spoke in a commanding voice: "Secret Art of the Transcendent Realm: Collective Reminiscence!"

The ball flashed up and exploded in a vortex of light that engulfed the entire stadium in the blink of an eye. Neji, Kakashi, Hiruzen, the Rookie nine and everyone else in the stadium suddenly found themselves surrounded by images – kind of like being inside of a movie. However, if anyone would have been able to see through another person's eyes, they would've found that everyone saw the exact same images. The light was somewhat translucent, if someone concentrated he could still see the real world without any problem.

_An orange-clad figure with blonde hair, a hitai-ate and three whisker-like marks on each cheek ran up a mountain road, which went along a crag and had a deep ravine with a river on the other side. Though he had an irritated look on his face, his eyes scanned the ground very attentively – he even stopped to turn over stones from time to time._

Most of the audience had figured out they were watching a memory of Naruto by now.

_Stupid Kakashi-sensei, stupid Sasuke-tengu…stupid Sakura-chan!_

Sakura's eyes widened at that last part. Not because she was offended, but because of the fact that Naruto had never mentioned her name and railed in the same sentence before.

_Why do they have to talk down to me like that? I mean, I know I lost the scroll…but it's not like I did it on purpose, dammit!_ The boy kept running up the road, while looking for the scroll attentively. After a while, he realized that he was almost back at the last place they had taken a break at. _But…But that just can't be! I know I placed the scroll back in after the break!_

Nevertheless, he arrived at the last place they stopped – a large fork in the road– without having found the scroll. But then he saw it lying in the middle of the plateau.

Naruto blinked. He blinked again. The scroll still lay there.

He thought back for a second. He remembered reaching out and taking the scroll from the ground to place it into his backpack.

_That's impossible! I know I placed it back inside! I know that I…I…I just know…_

His thoughts trailed off, and he could feel tears trying to work their way out of his eyes. Then he gave himself a mental shake to get rid of the feeling of shame and uncharacteristic self-doubt.

_This is impossible! This has to be a delusion of some kind!_

He walked over to the object, which just couldn't be the scroll. However the closer he got, the more it looked like it. Naruto was so upset that it didn't even occur to him that Kakashi would've noticed it if he lost the scroll right here (though he might have overlooked that fact even if he wouldn't have been upset, too). In his mind, only the desperate need to prove this was a fake and reassure himself that he hadn't done anything wrong existed. He bent down to touch the object that seemed to be laughing and making fun of him…

And he froze for a split second as the scroll faded away like a mirage to reveal…a burning explosive note! He barely managed to cover his face with his arms before it blew up. Burning, horrible pain shot through his body, and his eyes hurt from the sudden flash of light as he was thrown back from the explosion. He rolled over the ground about three times, flinching at the stinging pain he felt every time his skin made contact with the ground before he managed to get to his feet and stop himself…only to come face to face with an adult-sized, hooded figure with an eagle mask.

At the same time, a piece of paper with a strange seal on it was pinned firmly onto his exposed chest...and the chakra he had unconsciously used to strengthen his body and fix his feet to the ground dissipated, which resulted in him falling backwards and over the edge of the abyss.

Somehow, he managed to grab the edge and stop his fall. He let out a loud, painful gasp as his front made contact with the stone. He looked up into the masked faces of three figures looming over him. A Tanuki mask, an Eagle mask and a Mantis mask.

Kakashi sucked in a sharp breath as he recognized the Mantis mask.

***Meanwhile***

About three kilometers farther south, the very same ANBU landed next to two other ANBU on guard duty, startling them.

"S-Senken?!"

The newly identified Senken grimly looked at his partners in crime. "We've been found out."

The eyes of the only female of the group widened, before her hands clenched to fists and she looked down. "Dammit! How the hell could that demon survive?"

"I don't know." Senken replied. "But it's not like it matters right now. We have to get the hell out of here!"

"W-What?"

The third figure spoke up. "But Katansha, Senken…it's almost safe to say that Orochimaru will strike today…"

"I would like to survive this, Yowaki. And you?"

"I…yes, but…"

"Besides, if we die or get captured, then who will take care of the fox problem?"

Yowaki opened his mouth and closed it again multiple times before he looked down, groaning in resignation. "Damn it!"

The woman, Katansha placed her hand on his arm. "Yeah, I know…" Her voice took on a sharp edge. "Just why exactly does Hokage-sama have to be such a fool? If he wouldn't be such an idiot, we could do what has to be done in broad daylight, and be hailed as heroes for it!"

Yowaki turned to her, his eyes beneath his mask looking into hers with a blank, yet reproachful expression. "Be hailed as heroes for killing an innocent child?"

Katansha let go of his shoulder, and let out a barely audible sigh of frustration.

Yowaki continued. "No matter what the end, doing something like that should never be celebrated. I just wish that we wouldn't have to abandon our home for the sake of protecting it."

"We all wish for that, Yowaki. But sometimes, life just doesn't work out the way you want it to."

Yowaki looked at his two friends for a while, before nodding with a depressed sigh. Like one single being, they leapt from the roof where they'd been standing and moved towards the village walls.

Yowaki took one last look back at his beloved home, which he'd sworn to protect always, no matter what. "I'm sorry…I really am." And then he turned away, fleeing the village with his two friends, thinking it was the only way to keep it safe.

He'd never return as long as he lived.

***Meanwhile***

The figure with the Tanuki mask turned his head towards his accomplices and angrily said, "I told you this initial ambush was unnecessary!" His voice turned sad and he finished, "He's just a kid. He shouldn't have to endure so much pain."

Mantis turned towards him. "You know I don't share your viewpoint in this. If you feel that bad about it, why are you here at all? Besides, do you have any idea how difficult it was to pull off a Genjutsu strong enough to trick Kakashi? After that, I think I can savour our success a little."

Naruto, having suppressed his pain for now interrupted them. "Hey! Who are you guys? What are you doing? And I'm NOT a kid!" He added as he glared at the Tanuki masked man. "I'm Konoha's future Hokage! And I'll…"

His words turned into a scream of pain as Eagle stomped down on the fingers of his left hand, nailing them in place for now.

"Shut up, demon!" A female, venom-dripping voice hissed.

"Katansha! What are you doing?!" Tanuki exclaimed in shock.

"What am I doing? Didn't you hear what this disgusting piece of trash just said? He's defiling all of our past Hokage's honour!" the woman named Katansha yelled.

"He's simply dreaming! That's what children are supposed to do! Why are you hurting him like that? Isn't it enough that he has to die?"

That last statement snapped Naruto out of his pain-induced rigidity. "Die? What the hell are you talking about? What's the meaning of this?"

The three figures looked down at him again. "Simple. We're doing what the Hokage should have done years ago." Mantis answered coldly. Tanuki cast his associate a disapproving glance (though it was hard to tell due to the mask) before facing Naruto again.

He sighed sadly and lifted his right foot. "I'm sorry. Know that I don't take any joy in this."

With that, he stomped on the tips of Naruto's fingers of the right hand. At the same time, his female partner released his other hand, making Naruto let go of the edge and causing him to fall. His bewilderment overridden by adrenaline and fear, he flailed his arms about, looking and feeling for something to hold on to, but there was nothing – and the few times he managed to make contact with the wall and tried to stick himself to it with Chakra, he found himself unable to produce any. Even worse, the momentum he gained from his flailing arms made him turn in mid-air, so he was forced to watch as the surface of the river came closer and closer.

_WHAT KIND OF FUCKED-UP SHIT IS THAT?_ Were his last thoughts before he slammed into the water, and then his whole world turned black.

Through the temporary darkness, Naruto's voice resounded.

_As luck would have it, a piece of wood was drifting in the water right next to where I fell in, and the current made me slip on it. Because of that, a part of me remained above water. That saved my life…at least for that moment._

Cold, wet, burning…those were the first things Naruto became aware of as he emerged from unconsciousness. Groaning at the pain and discomfort, he opened his eyes. He found his torso resting on a piece of wood, his head barely above the surface of the water. Raising his head, he looked around. Apparently, he was still in the middle of the river. Looking at the high canyon-walls on both sides gliding past him, he guessed that the current was carrying him at about half the speed he could run.

He put his hands on the piece of wood and pushed himself up, wincing at the stinging pain that shot through his muscles as he moved. With some difficulty, he sat down on the wood. After he got as comfortable as he could be without becoming unbalanced, he looked down at his chest to inspect the damage.

Several choked gasps could be heard in the stands.

Naruto's jacket, as well as his pants were torn and burned (thankfully, his boxers seemed to have survived somehow) with only a few remaining shreds on his backside. His skin was gone, and the muscles on his arms were badly burned as well. It was surprising he could even move. Last, but not least he noticed the piece of paper on his chest. It was covered with complex Kanji and drawings, and it stuck to him like it was part of his skin.

Kakashi, the Sandaime and every other Shinobi of the rank of Tokubetsu Jounin or higher recognized the paper as an A-rank chakra seal: It could only be removed if another person's chakra was poured into it, or if the person who had it on them was increasing the speed of their natural chakra flow at double the normal speed for about two minutes. The second method was only known to about 20% of the Tokubetsu Jounin and higher rank, and out of these people only about 5% actually had enough skill to do it. Needless to say, Naruto wasn't one of them.

Naruto tore his gaze from his chest and observed his surroundings again, this time looking for a way to escape the canyon. However, the walls were very slick without any protrusions to hold on to, and they enclosed the river completely as far as Naruto could see. He tried to put a foot on the water and walk on it, but just as before, he found himself unable to mould Chakra. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he looked back at the paper on his chest.

_Well…guess I'll just have to take this off, then!_

Raising one hand to his chest, he hesitated a little before he touched the flesh just beside the paper carefully with his fingertips. He gasped with clenched teeth at the burning pain he felt at the contact, but soldiered on as he slowly slid his fingers over his skin, searching for the edge of the paper. Suddenly, he felt no pain from his own touch anymore as his fingers slid on the paper. His eyes widened, and he let his fingers wander from the edge of the object to his body, and back again.

_Pain, no pain. Pain, no pain. Pain, no pain. But where is the edge? Where's the place where my body ends and the paper begins?_ Clenching his eyes shut, he rested his hand on his chest and felt the entire place where the seal was located, all the while whimpering in pain. Nothing. He didn't find a rift. It was as if the paper and his body were one.

_Stupid son-of-a...oh come on, get real!_ He kept trying to get it off, growing more frustrated by the second. It was because of his concentration that he suddenly noticed things had gotten louder.

_Huh? What's that noise?_

It was a mixture of glowering, soughing and roaring, and it was getting closer. Curiously, Naruto tried to peer around the next curve in the canyon to see what caused the sound. At first, he didn't see anything, but as the current carried him further down, the next part of the river slowly came into view until...

Naruto's eyes widened in horror. _No..._

About a hundred meters ahead, the river was cut off by nothingness. Beyond that point was only air.

_Oh crap, NO!_

A waterfall. And judging by the noise, a very big one.

Desperately, Naruto's hand quickly shot to his chest again, trying with all his might to get the damned piece of paper off of him. Thankfully, the surge of adrenaline blocked out most of the pain he felt, allowing him to work on the task more recklessly ...but it was still in vain. Even as he tried to use his fingernails to scratch the paper off, he only succeeded in dealing some small scratches to himself. He flinched a little at the pain, but as he saw the blood seeping out of the tiny wounds, he froze.

One of the scratches next to the seal went a fraction of a millimetre under it.

After two more seconds of staring, his head whipped to his right leg, praying inwardly...and as luck would have it; his Kunai pouch was still there. Quickly and carefully, he reached for the handle of a Kunai that was sticking out of the top. As he gripped the Kunai, the pouch detached from the remnants of his clothes and fell into the river.

But it didn't matter, for he had what he needed. Thinking quickly, he gathered as much of torn fabric as he could get with his unoccupied hand, and put it in his mouth.

All of the present Jōnin, most Chūnin and two Genin had figured out what Naruto intended to do at this point (one Genin got it because he had entertained suicidal thoughts in the past, the other because he was a closet genius and was actually paying full attention for once).

Securing the makeshift lump between his teeth, making sure his tongue was not in the way and grabbing the floating piece of wood with his free hand, he raised the Kunai. He fixated the edge of the seal with his gaze, drew in a shaky breath - and then he stabbed the Kunai sideways inside his flesh, under the paper.

His muffled scream was loud enough to be clearly audible even among the countless horrified outcries and several sharp intakes of breath, and his neck muscles bulged as he bit hard onto the fabric in his mouth.

They swelled up even more and he continued to scream…which, because of the lump he kept biting on sounded more like a continuous, pain filled squeal as he dragged the Kunai down beside the end of the paper, cutting through his flesh under the seal.

In the present, most people had expressions of horror on their faces, and some of the more sensitive civilians even had to leave before they became sick from the images.

Kakashi, having fought in the third Shinobi world war and many years of serving as an ANBU, had seen far more horrific sights than this, and thus wasn't as affected as much as other Shinobi. But he still cringed a bit, as the sorrow of what his student went through and his inability to help him were more painful than anything he had experienced in his recent years.

At the same time, the teacher inside him actually had to congratulate Naruto. For what the blonde Chaos-shinobi had just done, while it was reckless and dangerous was not only well thought out and a testament of strong willpower, but also the only way for Naruto to possibly escape his life threatening situation. An extra loud outcry made him flinch, and he banished such thoughts from his mind for now.

_Come on…!_ Kakashi's hands were clenching the railing so hard that the tips of his fingers went white; the worry for his pupil almost numbing his brain.

It didn't matter that what he saw had actually happened already, and that it didn't matter how much he spurred on an afterimage. To Kakashi, this occurrence was simply too similar to the incident that had cost his comrade Obito his life. Both times it was Kakashi that had been the one responsible for his teammate's solo action. At this point, he couldn't for his life remember what had possessed him to send Naruto on the retrieval of the scroll alone. No matter how safe the environment was, you always had to be prepared for unforeseen dangers - and he couldn't believe that he had actually missed the Genjutsu that had made everyone believe the scroll had been placed inside Naruto's backpack. He was one of Konoha's most respected Jōnin, for heaven's sake!

Just goes to show how much the outward appearance actually matches the inside.

As it had happened once before, he could swear he heard his late teammate talking to him.

They call you the famous Copy-nin Kakashi…And yet, you failed to protect even one of your precious people. Back then, I died to save you and Rin…She sacrificed herself for both you and the village. Last of all, Sensei saved the entire village – you included – from the Kyuubi. It's always been you who was protected, you that was unable to do anything when it counted. In fact, the way things went you might as well have just abandoned Rin and me for the mission back then, as you originally intended.

Kakashi began to tremble as he watched the afterimage of Naruto coming closer and closer to the waterfall. No, oh God no, please…Not again!

Tears were falling from Naruto's eyes as he continued to mutilate himself. The pain was almost unbearable, but the ominous knowledge of his impending demise pushed him to continue. He had already cut around three and a half sides of the seal, and was halfway through the remaining part when suddenly, the piece of wood tipped and he fell over the brink of the waterfall.

"NO!" Kakashi screamed at the top of his lungs. Many people on the grand stand jumped at his loud outburst. But no one was shocked as much as his three pupils. None of them would've ever expected their Sensei, casual and laid back as he was, to lose his composure like this.

_Kakashi-sensei…?_ Naruto thought, looking at him through the colourful haze of his memories. He cast down his eyes, feeling pained at having hurt his Sensei that badly inadvertently.

Surprisingly, Naruto didn't scream in fright – more than likely because the shock was simply too big. Instead, he raised the Kunai again after a moment of surprise, knowing that if he wanted to have even a chance to survive this, he'd have to finish what he began and do it quickly.

However, there was one thing he hadn't reckoned with and that was his own momentum, which he'd gained from the start of his fall. It made him rotate at his midsection, and since he'd extended his hand slightly it came in contact with the water of the fall, knocking the Kunai out of his hand. Almost immediately, it disappeared into the raging torrent of water.

For a split-second, Naruto could do nothing but stare at the pillar of water next to him, completely aghast. Then, slowly he began to feel more panic than shock. While still rotating, he grabbed the nearly detached part of his body the seal was stuck on with both hands in an act of desperation, intending to sever the last piece of flesh that connected him and the damned seal by ripping it off with brute force.

It hurt even more than the sharp edge of the Kunai had, but he pulled with all his might. He sensed victory when he felt his skin and muscle start to give away but then, his face spun downwards and for a split second he saw the pool of water at the bottom – barely two metres away – as well as the rock which was only about one metre beneath the surface.

_**CRACK!**_

Blurry shapes underneath him…Glinting, faint white light over him, which got brighter and darker at the same time…And a dull pain in his lungs.

He wanted it to stop…He didn't want this, but his body felt like rubber…So powerless…The light above him seemed unreachable, separated from him by the strong current…

_Huh?_

Suddenly, he registered a small hole in the wall of rock beside him – about four metres ahead, at a slight curve of the river – it seemed so much closer than the light above…

With a tremendous amount of willpower, he forced his weak body to move. Pushing the water back and struggling towards the wall, gaining as much momentum as he could…Even in his addled state of mind, it seemed like a miracle when he managed to slip into the hole. With the current having disappeared, he didn't feel that helpless anymore and somehow, there was a faintly glowing light above him. Half swimming, half crawling over the ground, he pulled his body towards it.…

As his world started to get even darker, he began to ask himself why he even bothered – the dull pain wasn't so bad – before he finally emerged from the water and cold, clear air hit his face.

He was too weak to actually cough anything up, but his head dropped and he went through some light spasms as the water was forced out of his lungs as quickly as possible under the circumstances. He was shaking, and foam formed at his mouth as his urge to breathe reflex fought with his gag reflex, the result being water and air fighting for dominance inside his lungs, and it hurt terribly. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity most of the water was out, and he was breathing once again, although very weakly.

Strange…Now that he had no water in his lungs anymore, he didn't feel that bad – he felt strangely good, even sleepy. He thought,_ How good would it be to just lie down here. There's nothing dangerous around anyway. _Slowly, his eyes started to close…

As his head began to droop, his gaze fell on the small puddle that had formed from the water in his hair, and on his reflection in it.

Gasps of horror went through the entire audience, and the sound of quick footsteps and gagging noises indicated that many spectators had to run for the nearest toilet or trash bin once more. Also, there were tear-stricken whimpers filled with panic and worry…Not for themselves, but for Naruto.

Naruto's vision instantly jerked back to normal from the shock of what he was seeing. The left half of his face had deep lacerations, and his nose was clearly broken. There was one place near his left temple where you could see the bone.

The right side of his face however, was a different story altogether.

Jaw and upper lip were fine, but everything above that was a mass of red. The difference in height between the healthy side of his face and the mass of crushed flesh made it clear that his skull had caved in. His right eye was all but gone. He thought, _Well, that explains the funny vision at least. _There was a steady trickle of blood, as well as some other liquid coming from the wound, the origin of which Naruto didn't want to think about. After a few moments of disbelief, Naruto's foggy brain came to the following conclusion.

"Man…I'm the epitome of handsome, aren't I?" He whispered in a weak, hoarse voice.

If Hinata wasn't frozen in disbelief and denial, she would've started to sob by now. _Naruto-kun…Oh God, Naruto-kun…_

She so desperately wanted to help him – some way, somehow – but she remembered that this was only a vision of the past.

Sakura could hardly believe what she was seeing. _But…But he looked completely fine when he returned. He didn't even say anything!_ She thought as she lowered her gaze. _Why…Why would these ANBU do something like that? What did he do? And I…I was so mean to him…_

Sasuke was wondering what all of this meant as well. And though he didn't show it, he was worried about his teammate – maybe even a bit sorry for the way he'd treated him before. But mostly, he wondered where the hell this was going, since it was evident that Naruto was still alive and well.

Kakashi's hands were limp right now, barely holding onto the railing. His mind was numb and he kept muttering silently to himself, "No…"

Kakashi wasn't a medic-nin by any standard you could measure, but he had passable working knowledge of the severity of many kind of wounds, as well as a person's chance for survival. Heavy damage to the skull like the one Naruto incurred was almost always fatal – even if you had medical assistance at your side right away, and the wound had been inflicted with a clean weapon. With Naruto being far away from anything like that, as well as the fact that the rock that was responsible for the wound more than likely covered with moss and dirt…

Naruto didn't know much about anatomy and the workings of the body, but even he knew that if you had a wound like this and weren't feeling any pain at all then you were in serious trouble.

_I have to…go…meet up with the others, so they can get me a doctor…or something…_

Shaking, he began to crawl over the ground. While doing so, he noticed that first of all, his body felt more and more like rubber with each passing moment and second, he had a deep wound on his left arm as well. It was obvious that the bones were slightly fractured, and each move felt like a lifetime of hard labour. He was so tired…

He barely noticed something that looked like the entrance to a cave through his dimming vision before he slumped to the ground, unable to continue. He tried to raise himself into a crawling position again, but he couldn't manage it.

As he lay on the ground, his vision steadily growing darker by the second he thought, _Is this…how it…ends?_

It wasn't the first time he'd thought about death. In fact, there had been many times where he'd thought that he was already dead. Even yearned for death, actually…

At this point, the scenery changed and it showed a far younger Naruto stumbling through a crowd. It wasn't the amount of people that made him reel around – they actually gave him a wide berth. No, the reason he stumbled was because of the looks that the crowd gave him, and the things they were saying.

"What's he doing here?"

"Come on, let's go before he sees us."

"He better not come anywhere near my stand!"

Those were the things he heard. Constantly. And their eyes - those terrible eyes - so cold and unforgiving, as if his very presence was an insult. The young Naruto's eyes were burning with unshed tears as he continued to move and then, when he heard a woman say, "Toshi! Don't look at him!" he was unable to keep it down any longer. He broke down in the midst of everyone, crying loudly. The market place was filled with the desperate, unique plea of a child who was crying out for help without words.

When he saw a shadow approaching him through his blurred vision, he thought that someone actually came to help him, and he looked up, hope in his eyes – and all of it died as he saw the face of the man looming over him. His eyes were gleaming with coldness and unreasonable fury.

"Don't you feel ashamed at all?" He said in a dangerously low voice. "Isn't it enough that you even exist? Why are you here, bothering us?"

Walking past him, the man snapped and in an icy tone, "Just shut up, do the world a favour and die already."

As he walked away, many people applauded him.

Naruto sat there, unable to move. But on the inside, he was empty and cold. And he fell into despair. Deep…deep…deep…

The scenery changed again. This time, Naruto was older and standing before some graffiti on the wall of a restaurant, cleaning it up under the supervision of the owner.

"You better clean it up well, brat!" The man said. Naruto grumbled, and barely resisted shooting him an annoyed glare. A talk between two women down the road got his attention.

"Oh, look…It's that thing."

"Yeah, I can see. Sheesh, why do we have to let something like him run around freely?"

"Seriously, I wish Hokage-sama would think of our feelings more often…"

Naruto froze. Two words kept repeating themselves in his head. _That thing…That thing…That thing…_

Another change of scenery. This time, it was Naruto and he was about the same age as he is now, looking at a mask shop.

_Man, that mask looks cool! And scary, too…I bet I could use it for some nice pranks…_

Suddenly, someone grabbed him by the collar and threw him away. He let out a wheeze as he landed on his backside painfully. Looking up, he saw the culprit: a middle-aged man with a moustache. He appeared to be the owner of the shop.

"What do you think you're doing?" he yelled at Naruto.

"What am _**I**_ doing?" Naruto yelled back. Casting down his eyes, he continued "I was…just looking at the mask…"

The owner turned towards the stand. Upon seeing the fox mask Naruto had been admiring, he stiffened for a moment. Then he shook his head slightly, and Naruto could've sworn that he heard him mutter, "Should've known it was a bad idea to purchase this one."

He grabbed the mask, looked at Naruto and said, "So this is what you want?"

Naruto silently nodded yes.

Then the shop owner threw the mask at him, hitting him square on the head. "There! Now you have it! Get lost!" And with that, he went inside his shop again, not sparing Naruto another glance.

Naruto rubbed his sore head for a second before he turned to the mask, which lay right next to him. Actually grinning a little, he picked it up.

As he stood up however, he noticed that a small crowd had gathered around him. Some looked at him anxiously, as if he'd be a savage beast that would attack them any second. Some looked at him annoyed, as if he'd been the one who did something wrong. But most simply looked at him with the cold, hateful eyes he'd seen every day of his life. There was no one who looked at him with anything close to sympathy, as it would've been for any other kid that had been treated like that.

Naruto looked at the ground, his bottom lip trembling…

Hinata watched it all in disbelief and horror, unable to comprehend what she saw. She'd…She'd known that he didn't have the best of reputations – carefully worded – but she'd never really understood up to this point just how much nearly everyone in the village seemed to despise him.

Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. Tears of sadness, and surprisingly…tears of anger. Just what the heck was wrong with these people? Naruto might pull some pranks then and there, but these pranks were never really harmful. In fact, she'd found most of them quite funny…And no matter how much of a prankster someone was, that could never possibly explain this treatment, or why he had already been treated like that when he'd been a child.

She shuddered at recalling the horrible words the man had said. How…How could anyone say something like that to a little boy?

The projection finally continued at the original timeline.

Naruto began to tremble weakly as he recalled his life up until now…Every painful memory. They all seemed to fuse inside his head, whispering to him…

…_Aren't you ashamed at all?_

…_I wish something like you wouldn't run around freely._

…_There! Now do the world a favour…_

…_Get lost!_

…_And die already!_

He was so close to just giving it up, to surrendering to the darkness…To ending it all…

And then, he could feel something surge within him.

He remembered what had happened after each one of those times.

About a minute after the man had said those crushing words to child Naruto, he stood up and yelled to the heavens, "Yeah, right! As if I'd ever do you that favour!" before running away.

It had been the last time he'd cried tears of sadness.

"Screw you!" older Naruto snapped, as he ran away from the protesting shop owner and down the street. "I'm not _that thing_!" he yelled at the two women as he ran past, spraying cold water all over them. They screeched, and one of them fell down as she stumbled back.

The mask in his hand, Naruto's entire body started to tremble before he spun around and screamed at the crowd, "WHAT THE HELL IS IT?" He felt a bit of satisfaction as he saw some of them flinch.

Looking down, he spat through grating teeth, "Why are you all looking at me like that?" And he dashed out of the crowd, towards an unknown destination.

_I'll show them…!_ Naruto was on the training ground, practicing throwing Kunai. _I'll show them…!__ The day of the graduation test. __I'll show them…! I'll show them all…!_

"You can open your eyes now, Naruto."

Naruto opened them as Iruka-sensei had requested. First, he was confused as to why Iruka-sensei wasn't wearing his hitai-ate anymore. Then, he noticed the unfamiliar pressure around his head.

Smiling brightly at him, Iruka-sensei said, "Congratulations, Naruto…for graduating from the academy!"

As he saw that, Iruka felt a warmth spread through him. It was a welcome change from the horror he'd been feeling for the better part of the "movie".

Standing in front of the graves of Haku and Zabuza, Naruto listened to Kakashi-sensei talking about the problems of the ideal of Shinobi as he said 'a Shinobi must be an emotionless tool'.

Taking all of it in, he concluded "Alright, I've decided that I'm going to find my own nindō!"

He recalled all the good memories that were there beside the horrible ones. _Iruka-sensei…The graduation…Kakashi-sensei…Sasuke…Sakura…_

Determination was boiling through his veins, dispelling the doubt and lethargy he pushed his adrenaline, making part of his strength return.

_I've come this far,_ He thought. Raising his head, he lifted himself into a crawling position once again. Fire burned in his one remaining eye. _I WON'T GIVE UP LIKE THIS!_

With that, he started crawling once again. Centimetre for centimetre. _I can do this…I will make it through this!_

"Naruto…" Despite the situation, Kakashi couldn't help but feel proud of his student. To keep going, to not give in despite having wounds like this…The amount of willpower needed was actually scary. However, the pride was saturated with a feeling of uselessness and fear of what might come soon, because Kakashi had seen enough in his life to know that there were times when willpower alone simply wasn't enough.

Naruto kept crawling and crawling, focusing all his strength on the task of survival. Thus, he barely noticed it when he entered the cave which he'd seen the opening to earlier. And he didn't waste a second with paying attention to its structure.

However, the observers of the projection did, for it was quite an unusual sight.

It had a radius of about 15 metres. Shaped like a nearly perfect half-sphere, the walls of the cave were almost completely smooth. The few slight blemishes and imperfections were just enough to prevent the cave from looking plastic. At the far end from where Naruto had crawled in, there was some kind of figure carved into the stone, about three metres big. It looked humanoid, yet there was something strange to it…But the light in the room was just barely enough to make out its contours.

The light he had seen originated from a small opening at the zenith of the cave. It appeared to be the only way out, besides the one Naruto had come in through. Without even thinking, Naruto continued to drag himself forward and then, following a strange impulse he stopped right underneath the hole in the cave ceiling. His breathing had gotten irregular once more and he began to feel a dull, throbbing pain from his bashed in skull. His thoughts moved slowly, like flotsam floating in the ocean…But eventually, he was able to form a coherent thought…

_Have to…get up…After that...doesn't matter…Just get up…_

Shakily, he raised himself with his arms and then he continued to drag his legs, one after the other, just a tiny bit every time…

Finally, the tips of his feet were somewhat secure and Naruto started to push his body back, intending to shift his weight on his feet.

A faint cracking sound that originated from his fractured left arm – which he felt more than he heard – made him freeze, and then gaze directly at its source.

It was more an inkling than an actual observation, but he knew that his arm was bent slightly more than before and was in the process of breaking through from the strain he was putting on it. Thinking as quickly as it was possible, he continued to push himself up – carefully, so the strain wouldn't become too much for his arm – yet quickly as well, since he knew that if he took too long, his arm would break anyway. He pushed himself further and further up. The cracking sounds slowly became more audible…

And then, he finally didn't need his arms anymore, as he was balancing himself on his feet in a kneeling position.

_Damn it…I'm dizzy…_ Blinking, he looked up to the ceiling. There was a hole. A way to escape. But how could he reach it? He was unable to think of any way he could do that in his current state.

_One thing at a time,_ He told himself. _First…I have to actually stand up._

Carefully he started to rise, doing everything he could not to sway too much, and not to fall back down. He did incredibly well up until his knees were about halfway unbent, and then a sudden wave of dizziness made him reel. Flailing his arms around in panic, he tried to steady himself again.

He might have managed to do so, if it wasn't for two things.

First: Some of his blood had run down his legs and formed in two tiny puddles under his feet. Second: There was a small pebble underneath his left foot, which had become slick from the blood, and he slipped on it.

This time, Hinata was unable to keep herself in place. Kiba had to do that part.

As Hinata saw Naruto fall, she jumped up and had almost ran straight through the railing, hell bent on catching Naruto even if it was just an illusion, and Kiba barely managed to grab her arm just in time. Hinata struggled, desperately trying to escape his grasp but in terms of raw, physical power Kiba was far stronger than her.

Naruto noticed the commotion right away. He saw how desperate Hinata was trying to save him – or more specifically, his afterimage.

It made him feel warm on the inside to once again see someone care about him so much. At the same time though, the desire he'd developed to kick himself in the ass ever since he found out about Hinata's feelings for him nearly overwhelmed him. He'd wished for someone – anyone to care about him for who he was for so long – and yet, almost half his entire life there had been someone like that right in front of his eyes and he'd never realized a damn thing.

As Naruto fell, time seemed to slow down. He screamed at himself in his head not to, but his left arm reached out to dampen the force of the impact in reflex…

And then the impact came.

Once again, there was a cracking sound – this time clearly audible. The fall slowed almost to a stop and for a split second, Naruto felt hope rising in his chest that his arm might make it. And then, with a loud snap his arm all but broke in two.

Hinata let out a loud, soundless scream that shook Naruto to his very core. To everyone else in the stadium it was but one of countless screams of terror though.

Pain flooded Naruto's entire world, and his eye was blinded by red fog and a few flashes…or was that his own blood? He didn't know and after a few moments, he didn't care anymore. The only thing he knew after the pain was the absence of any feeling…His vision was nothing but a blurry mass of colours, which became less and less meaningful…

Only one thing was clear anymore. One small thing. A sound.

Bu-bum…

Bu-bum…

_A rhythmic beating._

Bu-bum…

_His heartbeat._

Bu-bum…

Strange…he'd never even known his heart sounded like that. He'd always taken it for granted, never paid any attention to the sound the few times he had been able to hear it…

Bu-bum…

Only now…he noticed that it actually sounded really nice…

Bu…bum…

Only now, when it became erratic and uneven…and was about to stop forever…

Bu…bum…

_No…I don't want to…but I can't move…can't even…feel my…_

Bu…bum…

After a brief silence, Naruto's thoughts rang out again. This time, they sounded almost…pleading.

_Kakashi-sensei…_

Kakashi stiffened.

Bu…bum…

_Sakura-chan…Sasuke-tengu…_

Sakura froze. Sasuke tensed.

Bu…Bu…bum…

_I…could serious…ly…_

Bu—b-b—bum…

…_use…some…help…right…right…now…_

Bu-…

…

Naruto's once sparkling and lively eye became dull and lifeless.

It was dead silent in the stadium.

No one could believe this, not even Kakashi – whose logical mind had been telling him this was going to happen ever since he'd seen Naruto's head wound. Even after Naruto had told them this had happened – they were talking about Naruto here, about mischievous, carefree Naruto who brought chaos everywhere he went – him dying simply seemed impossible.

Especially for Hinata.

She'd slumped back in her seat. This simply couldn't be…Her Naruto-kun…Her idol of confidence…The boy she'd crushed on forever, and loved for a while now…Her one, brilliant light in the world…He just couldn't be…

No…No…No no no no no no…

When a bright light suddenly flashed up, the audience was still too shocked to scream in surprise but they collectively flinched, though.

Inside the bright light that suddenly appeared, the carved figure on the wall was finally completely visible. It was indeed humanoid but its skin was scaly, and not smooth. It had reptilian like jaws in place of a mouth, and some kind of mane at the back of its head. There were wings that originated from its back that covered a great amount of the cave walls. It seemed to be a nearly identical copy of the aura-like new "second skin" of the present Naruto.

The being was surrounded by multiple smaller creatures, the largest as big as the stone carvings' eyes although their forms couldn't really be made out from the distance. The light also revealed several hundred tiny dots on the cave walls, so many that the cave looked like the night sky, except that there was none of the usual patterns and it was inverse – black dots on pale background instead of white dots on a black background.

The creature stood with its arms raised, his posture not clear as to whether it would throw them up and bellow a feral challenge to the heavens, or spread its arms in a serene and welcoming gesture any second.

The light that illuminated the cavern came from the carvings' eyes, which right now were two beacons of bright golden light.

For a few moments, nothing more happened. Then, certain spots on the smaller creatures began to glow as well, each one a different colour. They were followed by the dots in the ceiling, until the entire cave really did look like a colourful version of the starlit sky.

And then, slight vibrations began to shake the cave as formerly invisible arcane markings appeared underneath Naruto's corpse and began to glow, one line after the other until everyone saw Naruto lying in the center of an unknown seal.

There was so much light inside the projection now that people were starting to think that the air itself was becoming luminescent, too.

Until they realized with a start that that was actually the case.

The entire landscape shifted. The walls of the cave became translucent, as well as the earth, the trees and everything else as far as the eye could see.

And then, there was the light. Everywhere there was light. Every color possible of all intensities.

The one odd thing was that the light didn't radiate like people were used to seeing, but instead it swirled and flowed like paint on a canvas.

There were only a few rules that the strange light seemed to follow. One, that even though there were many 'pieces' of the light that irregularly whirled around, there were also giant 'streams' of light that flew in different directions. Two, the only light that didn't swirl, stream or move in any way was the arcane seal underneath Naruto, which due to the ground being transparent now, seemed to float inside the essence.

Rule two was only accurate for about five seconds, though.

For after that time, with a bright flash something appeared right next to Naruto and the seal. It was huge; about twenty metres high and around the same width, and fifty metres long. It was by far made of the brightest amount of light. Just like the seal Naruto's body lay on, its light was constant and its form was all too familiar to every lover of ancient lore.

Four legs with strong claws that looked kind of like human hands at its front. A slender, but still sturdy body. Reptilian head, two big wings protruding from its back and a long tail.

"A…A d-dragon?" Someone in the audience stuttered.

That was exactly what it was. The creature blinked and looked around in bewilderment, before its gaze rested on the form of Naruto.

"What…What the…" The being spoke, shocking quite a few people. And then, in with another flash of light a new dragon appeared. It was slightly bigger than the first, but unlike the first one it was shaped more like a snake, with a lion's mane on its head and two tentacles just behind its nostrils. Also, it didn't have any wings.

When its gaze fell on Naruto, its eyes widened in shock. "Would…Would this…?"

Another flash, and then another, and then a third. Soon, the entire area was filled with dragons that bore a wide range of appearances. Some had wings, some did not. There were some who stood on four legs, and others who only had two legs. The smallest ones were about as big as a house, while the biggest ones were about the size of a small village. There appeared to be more than a thousand.

Regardless of whether they had wings or not, they were floating in the light-filled room, unmindful of any laws of the physical world, which could only be seen as a glass-like structure through all the light. And they all were talking loudly amongst themselves.

"Can this…really be?"

"It's a Herald! It really is one!"

"Just how long has it been since the last time?"

"Far too long, of that I am certain."

All the talking ceased when a faint rumbling sound resounded through the unusual landscape. The dragons all turned their heads in one direction…just about two seconds before two giant orbs of gold flashed up in a far distance.

Their light was so faint that it was barely visible, indicating a distance of many, many kilometres. But even so, they appeared bigger than most of the dragons.

Which meant that the owner of those orbs truly had to be titanic.

As the being began to speak, some of the spectators shrank in their seats. Its voice was loud, deep and resounding…like the friction of the continental plates deep within the earth that had just become audible.

"So, another one has finally emerged…" The gigantic eyes dropped a little. "Thank the heavens…I was beginning to fear that no one would ever come again."

Murmurs of agreement were whispered among the dragons.

After a moment, the behemoth spoke again. "Very well, my brothers…Let us begin the ceremony."

All dragons turned to the arcane seal with Naruto again. Smiles graced nearly all their faces, showing that they had been waiting for this for a long time.

* * *

Naruto was floating in the midst of dark, still water. There was no light above him, and nothing to his sides as far as the eye could see. Only underneath him was there ground, and it was completely even and stretched out endlessly.

_How did he get here? What was this place? Who was he, even? He didn't know…He didn't know anything._

Suddenly, he saw something…Something in the distance. A light, white and faint but somehow it seemed so…peaceful… And then all of a sudden, water began to stream…slowly, giving him the feeling he was being guided, rather than being pushed. He reached out to the light with his hand.

_So…peaceful…_

Suddenly, something surged within him. It wasn't a memory, not quite – but more like a hunch, an inner warning that if he let himself touch it there would be no turning back – that he would be leaving behind something unfinished…He turned around, and slowly started to walk against the current, away from the light.

_Not yet…I am…not done yet…_

The current he was fighting against became stronger…

* * *

As if hearing an unspoken command, all of the dragons took on a meditative stance as an aura formed around their bodies and a beam of light shone from every single one of them. All the lines travelled towards the still form of Naruto, or more specifically the still glowing seal he was lying on. The lines flew into the seal and merged with it, before they spread as new lines from the original seal, expanding it and changing its form.

Very soon the once round seal had become an arcane sphere, with Naruto floating somewhere near its centre. And then, a figure appeared right next to Naruto. Being in an upright foetal position, it gave the sphere the appearance of an egg more than anything else. It was faint, but it could still be seen that it was the second skin of the present Naruto – without Naruto in it. Nearly all of the dragons sucked in a sharp breath as the form inside the sphere became visible and a loud, thundering sound drowned out everything else. The monumental owner of the golden eyes gasped.

One of the dragons spoke up. "This…this is…"

Another one finished the statement. "…A Ryujin!"

For a while, everything was silent.

When the giant creature in the distance spoke again, its voice was trembling slightly. "What a day…What a wonderful moment!" The voice sounded so overcome with disbelief and happiness that it wouldn't have surprised anyone if tears had fallen from the giant eyes. "Not only do we have another Herald after so many millennia, it is also the one that we have been waiting for ever since the day our race came into being!"

* * *

The current had become so strong that Naruto was beginning to be pushed back, despite his efforts. Desperately, he kept walking against it. He knew that he couldn't allow himself to be pushed into the light. As he was about to begin to lose hope, something clicked within his head.

_The ground!_

Altering his course, Naruto struggled towards the ground as fast as he could and once he was there, he dug his fingers deeply into it, anchoring himself in place. An unidentified hunch told him that this might be enough to simply hold out for now…

* * *

"So…let us begin. May the time we all have been waiting for finally be upon us!"

There were several roars of approval from the dragons, before the solemn atmosphere set in again. Turning to the egg-like sphere once again, the look in their eyes became fierce and surges of energy were pushed through the lines that still connected the dragons with the 'egg'. And when they reached it, several changes took place inside the sphere.

* * *

Just as Naruto was beginning to think that he would lose his hold on the ground any moment, a mighty pulse shook everything so violently that he lost his bearings for a second. As he became aware of his surroundings again, there was no white light behind him anymore, no ground beneath him and the current had completely stopped.

At first, he thought that he was all alone in the dark, motionless water but then he looked up and there, far above him was a light. But it didn't have any similarities to the constant white light he'd seen only moments ago. No, this light was glinting and dancing, and was as colourful as a rainbow. While the light from before didn't hold any sense of personal fulfillment but instead promised eternal peace, the light he saw now was wildly radiating happiness and enthusiasm, and a promise of endless possibilities.

Naruto could feel it. This was where he belonged. This was his way out of here, back to – an image of several people standing in a line next to him appeared in his mind – back to them. He started to swim upwards…

* * *

Naruto's body was slowly lifted up to his feet, his wounds all closed. His left arm mended itself back together, and flesh and skin formed over the former fracture, leaving no indication that there ever had been something wrong. The same thing happened with the wound on his skull; bone and flesh returned to their original state, and his second eye, albeit closed, was visible and whole once again.

At the same time, the ethereal shape was unbending itself and slowly overlapping with Naruto's body, as small cracks were beginning to appear on the surface of the sphere. The not fully visible behemoth appeared to breathe in slightly, and then a beam of golden light originated from where its mouth should be and hit the sphere. Cracks were spreading all over it now, and a faint cyan light was beginning to leak out of them. Inside the sphere, swirls of light were gathering and condensing around Naruto's face, shaping into the oval crystal that everyone saw on the present Naruto's forehead.

* * *

Naruto didn't even have to swim anymore. Something was pulling him upwards much faster than he could ever hope to accomplish on his own. The magnificent light got closer and closer. He raised his hands towards the warm glow, and several things happened simultaneously.

The oval on Naruto's forehead flashed up, just like before he'd transformed in the arena – and a pulse originating from it ran through both his physical body and the now brightly shining ethereal shape. At the same time, the sphere exploded in a million splinters and a huge shockwave of light was pulsing through the entire visible landscape in a split-second, seemingly travelling endlessly.

* * *

Naruto broke through the surface of the water and rose into the bright light above.

* * *

Both the physical Naruto's and ethereal second-skin Naruto's eyes snapped open wide, his pupils instantly turning as small as possible. Energy and body tensed up as one, as Naruto opened his mouth/jaw…

_And he roared._

None of the people in the stadium would ever forget the sound for as long as they lived.

It was deep as vibrations of the earth, yet high-pitched like claws scratching the surface of a mirror. It was deafening, yet rang through both mind and body like a faint whisper. Serene as the humming of a priestess in meditation, but scattered like the emotional turmoil of a man whose most beloved precious person had just died right in front of his eyes. Loving and gentle like a mother singing her child to sleep, and viciously rude like a savage beast screaming for the blood of its most hated enemies.

It was the cry of a cockerel greeting the new day. It was the mourning of a crowd for the death of a very loved and great man. It was love and care. It was fury and destruction. It was an outcry that was filled with all the joy and suffering, anger and sympathy, defiance and accusation, concern and indifference, emotion and tranquility of the world.

All of a sudden, the extraordinary attributes of the landscape – including the dragons – vanished again, and the physical world was back. Although the ethereal new look of Naruto, as well as the fact that he was alive once again remained.

Naruto slipped into a defensive stance and looked around so quickly and frantically that he looked like a wild, slightly dazed animal. His head was a vortex of emotions, and he was running on pure instinct as he observed his surroundings.

_Narrow. Dark. Trapped. ESCAPE!_

His head snapped upwards, and he saw the hole in the ceiling. Quickly he crouched, braced the muscles in his legs – and jumped.

The leap brought him out of the cave. And ten metres over the earth…twenty metres, and then thirty metres. When he finally reached the zenith of his jump, he was about a hundred metres over the ground.

He could see the expanses of ground over the cave, as well as forests and mountains in the distance. He could feel the fresh wind blowing past him. And just as quickly as the feeling of being trapped left, a euphoric feeling of freedom came. He loved this view, and wanted to see more. The ethereal wings on his back spread wide, and then with a strong flap, he was catapulted away from the valley and over the trees and rocks of the next one, much faster than any of the Shinobi who were currently watching the projection could hope to run. Beating with his wings, Naruto gained height, and looked over the beautiful landscape that flew by underneath him.

Starting to grin in a very Naruto-like way, he let out a cry of joy. It made some people shiver, as it sounded like an attenuated version of the last bellow. Still flying, he started to play a little. He changed directions quickly in succession, made rolls in mid-air, stopped suddenly in the air and hovered for a moment before changing direction, and even flew on his back a couple of times. Once in a while, he let out something that sounded like a wild, and yet calm laugh.

Soon though, he noticed something on the horizon that captured all his attention. It was a huge accumulation of strange, square things, which were positioned around a monument with several faces carved into it. After a moment of bewilderment, something emerged from within Naruto. A memory of something that was…from before. A place to go back to…Home.

Naruto altered his course, and flew towards the…village. He suddenly knew it was called a village. After reaching it, he stopped in midair, hovering over it. A sense of rightness surged through him.

_This is…home. Shelter._

Something seemed to click audibly as he thought 'shelter'. But he didn't really have a chance to dwell on that as a clanging sound suddenly was heard. Shaking his head slightly, he focused on the part of the village where the clanging sound had come from. At first, he noticed the smell of blood, and his gaze fell on the corpse of a boy who was wrapped in bandages. Tearing his gaze away with a slight shudder, he kept looking…and froze as his gaze fell upon two humans, with one having an object made of metal buried in the shoulder of the other, and said other one just lifting his hand in a strangely ominous gesture.

The display was all too familiar to Hayate Gekko.

As he saw the hitai-ate of the one man, and felt the killing intent of the other, anger suddenly flooded through his veins. Anger that came from both now as well as the time before.

_Murder! Forbidden Flesh! Not part of the family, yet family! Protect the family!_

Taking a nosedive, Naruto let himself fall from the sky, intending to come to the ground behind the bad human. Just as he'd righted himself and had extenuated his fall enough to make his landing nearly soundless – he was about two metres away from the rooftop at this point – he bend the last part of his left wing, joining it with the second, and the airfoils were pulled tightly against the wing segments, effectively turning it into an oversized arm with two fingers and a thumb.

As he landed behind the hostile man, he grabbed him by the left shoulder, feeling the armour give way under the pressure of his grip before he whirled the man around and threw him away with all his might.

Naruto watched the man fly over the village, and felt a sense of grim satisfaction as the enemy came down in the forest and the faint sound of cracking bones could be heard (by him, at least). He was about to turn to the other man, when more unpleasant memories suddenly emerged.

_Cold eyes. Unforgiving…Not good…_

Out of impulse he flew up again and away from the village, without sparing the man he'd saved another glance.

As he flew, his mind kept working…

_Saved…But grateful…Strange…Flying…What… _He started blinking._ What…What…Flying…How…Do…?_

As he grew unsteady, he just barely managed to land on a mountainside before it all came back…Who he was, what had happened…and his mind finally caught up with everything.

Raising his hands, he stared at his ethereal claws – watching them move along as he clenched and unclenched his fingers. His gaze drifted to the energy-maw that extended from his face, and he saw the flews beginning to tremble along with his actual lips. Turning his head, he looked at the additional limbs which he could feel just like he felt his arms and legs. They moved at his every command, just like any part of his body. He started trembling, and his gaze dropped to his hands/claws again.

"What…What is this…?"

His voice was shaky. "Just…Just what the hell is happening here?"

_**Calm down.**_

His head snapped up. "H-huh?" He looked around frantically. "Who's there?!"

_**Shush…I know this is unsettling, and a bit frightening. But you do not have to be afraid. **_Another voice said.

"What the hell? Who are you guys? Where are you?" Naruto shouted, on the verge of becoming hysterical.

_**Please…I know this is hard, but…you need to calm down.**_ Said yet another voice.

Naruto was just about to turn berserk and go on a small rampage, when yet another strange thing happened. From somewhere deep inside him, an unknown peace spread. Something calculating and hard, like a white void…or metal. It cut through the chaos that was his usual mindset, and stopped his hysteria cold. Naruto was still in emotional turmoil, but this newfound side of him was telling him that it wouldn't allow him to be ruled by his emotions right now, as he usually did.

He raised himself into an upright position, folding his wings at his sides reflexively. "Okay…Who are you guys?" Naruto said in a calm voice.

_**Ah…It seems that it has started to kick in.**_

"What has started to kick in?"

_**Well…**_ A new voice continued. _**You see, when someone becomes what you have become, the part of their personality that was secondary up to that point is amplified, and the strength of these parts makes itself known.**_

Naruto interrupted, "Wait, what exactly do you mean when you say secondary personality?"

_**Well, think about your current state. Are you usually calm in times like these?**_

Naruto shook his head as a response.

_**Exactly. The reason you are right now is that the calm and calculative part of yourself has been amplified by the transformation. In a sense, you've gained the 'emotional tools' that were missing from your kit.**_

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I still don't quite get it, but let's just leave it at that for now. Like I asked before, who are you guys? And why the hell can I hear you, but not see you?"

_**You're only seeing the physical realm right now, that's why.**_

"Uh, what? You mean, there are other ones?"

_**There are. If you want to see us…just relax and don't fight what will come now.**_

Naruto started to feel something pull from within him. His first instinct was to fight it off – but then his new, former missing 'emotional tools' reminded him that he had little chance of solving this mystery by himself. The conclusion was that he had no choice but to trust them – whoever they were – for now. The unfamiliar pull continued for a few seconds.

And then, the landscape shifted, becoming the same light-filled place it had been when Naruto…died.

Naruto was less concerned with the unusualness of his surroundings than with its inhabitants, though. He blinked a few times as he looked at the big, reptilian-like faces all around him.

"Okay…" he finally said. He was fighting hard not to become hysterical yet again despite the new, calculating side of him asserting itself. "You're…dragons, right?"

_**Hmm…He's taking it surprisingly well.**_

_**Yes…I still remember how I was when I had just become a hatchling.**_

_**He must be a real hot-head if his 'other side' can keep him this calm right now…**_

"Guys…" Naruto silenced them. "Listen, I don't know how I look on the outside, but I'm trying really hard not to throw a fit right now. And those mumblings aren't exactly helping, so could anyone please tell me what the hell is going on with me?"

_**We would love to do so, young man…**_

Naruto spun around…and saw the huge golden eyes in the far distance. His mouth dropped open.

"…And I thought the furball was big…"

_**Furball?**_ The behemoth asked, and eyed Naruto carefully for a second. _**Ah, I see…You're a Jinchuuriki, how ironic…**_

"Um…a 'Jinchuuriki'? What is that?"

_**That is what humans call people with 'room-guests' like yours.**_

Naruto paled. "How…How the hell do you know that?"

_**As I said before, we'd love to explain it to you…but don't you have a team that you should return to right now?**_

His eyes grew wide and Naruto said, "What? Oh crap, you're right! And I still have to get that scroll, too! Wait, those guys who threw me off the cliff took it, didn't they? How am I supposed to…"

_**Do not worry, boy.**_The giant creature interrupted him. _**It might not be as difficult as you think it will be…**_

* * *

Naruto stood in front of the last curve before Kakutane, the former missing scroll in his hand. As it turned out, his assailants had left the real scroll right where the Genjutsu scroll was. It seemed as if they didn't want to get Kakashi-sensei into trouble – other than having one of his students murdered, that is. Also, he was back in his normal, human form.

"And…you really think that I shouldn't let Kakashi-sensei know about this?"

_**How are you going to explain this to him if you don't even understand it yourself?**_

_**He's right. That would only put him on edge. In the worst case, he'd try to keep you from talking with us, fearing that we have bad intentions. And if you want to have a chance at not killing that Neji-san by accident, you're going to need every bit of preparation you can get – so we can't afford any delays.**_

Naruto looked torn, but nodded. "Alright…I still feel bad about it, though."

_**I would be disturbed if you would not feel that way. But there really is no other choice right now. Now go. Do not make your teacher worry any longer.**_

Nodding, Naruto was just about to go around the corner, when the voices reminded him, _**Oh, yes…For this to work, you had better put your hitai-ate back on.**_

After being frozen for a second, Naruto quickly took his hitai-ate from his pocket, and tied it around his forehead, hiding the cyan oval from the world.

"Thanks a bunch. I almost forgot."

_**You are welcome.**_

Naruto took one final, deep breath, and then put on a neutral face before running around the corner, towards Kakutane.

The projection vanished, leaving everyone in the stadium to stare into nothingness…or at the luminescent boy down in the arena. There wasn't a single being in the stadium that had remained unshaken by what they had witnessed, especially the disguised Orochimaru who still had trouble getting his breathing back under control after seeing and hearing those giant, golden eyes and the voice of their owner. Lucky for him, none of the Konoha-nin around him were paying too much attention to him right now.

After a few moments of tense silence, Naruto said "Well…that's about the gist of it all. I met dragons – and simply said, I became one."

* * *

A/N²: Okay, so much for the second chapter.

I hope the three original villains I created are good enough for you. I created them to be representatives of the three kinds of Naruto-haters in the village.

Katansha: The dump kind who is unable to tell the difference between a jailor and the jailed, and actually do believe that Naruto is the reincarnated Kurama.

Senken: The ruthless kind who **knows** that Naruto and Kurama are two separate entities, but doesn't care as long as they get some kind of revenge.

Yowaki: Knows that Naruto and Kurama are two beings, and doesn't blame Naruto much for the attack on Konoha. However, they're afraid, thinking that nothing is able to keep a demon like the Kyuubi at bay for long.

The revival scene was inspired by the song "Rebirthing" by Skillet. In a way, you could say that the entire plot came into being because of it.  
You see, I like Naruto, and I like dragons. I wanted to make a story in which both played a role. I discovered many other stories on the site that also have a plot like that...however, there are two similarities I found in almost every one of them: First, Naruto can only summon dragons or use dragon-like powers in most of them. And second, those powers are almost always a reward given to him by others for his good heart or his unfailing determination. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that - but personally, I like it better if the hero attains the powers he needs on his own, with help from a master or his friends.  
I'm totally dissatisfied with the way the original manga goes right now. I mean...Kishimoto basically gave Naruto only Kage Bunshin, Rasengan and Sage Mode as his own armoury of weapons, and has Naruto running almost entirely on Kurama's Chakra since the start of the fourth Ninja world war. A power that isn't, and never will be Naruto's own. I know that the point is teamwork, but still...Naruto wants to become the greatest and most powerful Hokage there ever was - and if he only manages to do so with Kurama as his fuel, he wouldn't truly have earned it...not to mention that it would be an exploitation of his new friend.  
Anyway, because of that, I was a little stumped - until I heard the song "Rebirthing". Then I thought, "Hey...what if you had to pass certain tests to get the power?".

Hope you liked it. Also, I'd like to encourage you to give my beta's story "**My Precious People**", a try. It's adopted, but I've read both works and really like what **Serious Sam** made of the plot.

Best of luck to you all!


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